makensis-cli


CLI for the Node.js makensis wrapper

Why?

Admittedly, there are only few reasons why you would want to use a wrapper for an already existing CLI application.

Pros:

- seamless Wine integration
- Unix-like command-line parameters
- normalized output across different NSIS versions
- optional JSON output

Cons:

- redundancy

Prerequisites

Make sure that NSIS is properly installed with makensis in your PATH environment variable.

$3

Download the NSIS installer from SourceForge and run setup. Once completed, you need to edit your environment variable manually.

Alternatively, you can install NSIS using the Scoop package manager:

``sh
$ scoop install nsis/nsis
`

$3

Install NSIS from your distribution's default package manager, for example:

`sh


Debian

$ sudo apt-get install nsis

Red Hat

$ sudo dnf install nsis
`

$3

Install NSIS using Homebrew or MacPorts:

`sh


Homebrew

$ brew install nsis

MacPorts

$ port install nsis
`

$3

You can setup NSIS in your Wine environment, but keep in mind that Wine writes standard streams while executing makensis. Additional parsing of the compiler output might be necessary.

Installation

$ npm install makensis-cli --global

Usage

You can evoke this wrapper using mn (for makensis).

$3

- hdrinfo – prints information about what options makensis was compiled with (Aliases: flags)
- version – prints the makensis version and exits
- license – prints the makensis software license exits
- cmdhelp [item] – prints out help for 'item', or lists all commands
- nsisdir – prints path of ${NSISDIR} (Aliases: dir)
- scaffold – scaffold a new NSIS script in the current working directory (Aliases: new)

$3

Running mn --help lists all available options:

`
CLI version of node-makensis

Options:
-V, --version output the version number
-h, --help output usage information

Commands:
hdrinfo|flags Print compilation flags
compile [script] Compiles script(s)
version [options] Import repository
cmdhelp|help [command] [options] Prints out help for single or all commands
license [options] Prints license
nsisdir|dir Prints NSIS installation folder
scaffold|new Creates custom made NSIS script
help [cmd] display help for [cmd]
`

Examples:

Let's start with makensis returning its version

`sh
$ mn version

Result:

#

v3.02.1

`
____

We can also return this as JSON

`sh
$ mn version --json

Result:

#

{

"version": "3.02.1"

}

`
____

Try again for makensis on Wine

`sh
$ mn version --json --wine

Result:

#

{

"version": "3.01"

}

`
____

In the following steps we're going to need a demo script, so let's create one. Take special note of the !warning inside the section.

`sh
$ printf "OutFile demo.exe\n\nSection\n!warning\nSectionEnd" > demo.nsi
`
____

Compile the script

`sh
$ mn demo.nsi

Result (omitted):

#

EXE header size: 36352 / 37888 bytes

Install code: 399 / 1999 bytes

Install data: 0 / 0 bytes

CRC (0x027F605B): 4 / 4 bytes

Total size: 36755 / 39891 bytes (92.1%)

1 warning:

!warning: (demo.nsi:4)

`
____

Compile again, but only display warnings and errors

`sh
$ mn demo.nsi --verbose 2

Result:

#

warning: !warning: (demo.nsi:4)

1 warning:

!warning: (demo.nsi:4)

`
____

Compile with strict settings, so our little !warning will be treated as an error.

`sh
$ mn demo.nsi --verbose 2 --strict

Result:

#

Exit Code 1

Error: warning treated as error

`
____

Let's output the above as JSON

`sh
$ mn demo.nsi --verbose 2 --strict --json

Result:

#

{

"status": 1,

"stdout": "warning: !warning: (demo.nsi:4)",

"stderr": "Error: warning treated as error",

"warnings": 1

}

``

License

This work is licensed under The MIT License