Inno Setup is a
free software script-driven installation system created in
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
by Jordan Russell. The first version was released in 1997.
History
Since Jordan Russell wasn't satisfied with
InstallShield Express which he had received upon purchase of Borland Delphi, he decided to make his own installer. The first public version was 1.09.
To make an installation package with version 1.09, an "ISS.TXT" file needed to be created in the installation
directory. In the file, the user needed to supply
variables and values which are still used in Inno Setup today. These variables served as the configuration of the installation package but many other features could not be changed. The installation
compiler had no
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
and was more of a
shell to compile
scripts
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...
.
Inno Setup grew popular due to being free and open source; free for both commercial and non-commercial use, many
software companies switched to the tool. Since Inno Setup was based around scripting, fans of Inno Setup started
ISTool and
ScriptMaker to aid in visual and simpler ways to make installations for Inno Setup.
Inno Setup has won many awards including the
Shareware Industry Awards three times in a row — from 2002 to 2004.
Many people have taken Inno Setup source code and used it to develop
third-party versions of Inno Setup. An example is ''My Inno Setup Extensions'' by Martijn Laan, which was incorporated into Inno Setup in June 2003.
Features
Key features
* Supports
Windows Vista and later.
Earlier versions supported
Windows 2000,
Windows XP and
Windows Server 2003OS requirements change,
Windows 9x and
Windows NT 4.0before 5.5.0,
Windows NT 3.51
Windows NT 3.51 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It is the third version of Windows NT and was released on May 30, 1995, eight months following the release of Windows NT ...
before v3.0.0 and
Windows 3.XBefore v1.3.0.
* Support for multiple platforms (
IA-32,
x64 and
IA-64) in a single binary.
ARM64 is also supported.
* Supports creation of a single
EXE to install programs for easy
online distribution (MSI support requires third-party products)
* Supports
disk spanning
* Customizable setup types, for example, "full", "minimal", and "custom"
* Complete
uninstall capabilities
* Integrated support for
DEFLATE,
bzip2, and
LZMA file
compression
* Support for comparing file version information, replacing in-use files, shared file counting, registering
DLL/OCXs and type libraries, and installing
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
s
* Creation of
shortcuts, including in the
Start Menu and on the
desktop
* Creation of
registry and
INI file entries
* Integrated scripting engine based on
Pascal Script
* Support for multilingual installs
* Support for passworded and encrypted installs
* Silent install and uninstall
* Supports
Unicode and right-to-left languages
See also
*
List of installation software
References
External links
*
*{{github, jrsoftware/issrc, Inno Setup
The Inno Setup Extensions Knowledge Base(offline, link to archived page)
- An extensive review of Inno Setup (offline, link to archived page)
Lexpa ISVS - Inno Setup add-in for Visual Studio(offline, link to archived page)
Inno Setup reporting via Google Analytics- How can developers can see installation statistics of Inno Setup via Google Analytics.
Free installation software
Free software programmed in Delphi
Windows-only free software
Software that uses Scintilla
Software using the BSD license
Pascal (programming language) software