Installing Mac Applications

Maybe its just my Mac bias, but I have never liked installers much. They always strike me as black boxes. Whenever I run one I always imagine it scattering hidden files all over my hard drive. I love it when you download software on the Mac and are presented with a simple disk image with an alias to the applications folder. Its nice, simple and very clear where things are being installed. I can see where installers have their uses for complicated programs requiring special system libraries and such, but I always feel a twinge of suspicion when I encounter software that has an installer when I don’t feel it needs one.
Unfortunately, most of the world runs Windows, and on Windows you need an installer to set up all of the proper start menu aliases etc. I wanted some Windows equivalent of the dmg with which to install the windows version of my game, but it apparently doesn’t exist. Windows users expect installers and most software portals apparently won’t even distribute Windows software that doesn’t have a proper installer. Because of this, BitRock InstallBuilder has become an important part of my publishing workflow for the Windows version of my game Constellation. I really like that it works on a mac. I program with Adobe Director, that can publish a windows .exe from a Mac its really helpful to have InstallBuilder lets me publish to Windows without ever touching Windows (other than for testing of course).
Getting Around un-Mac Interface

I was at first very confused by InstallBuilder. Its interface and directory structure is decidedly un-Mac like. Opening its main folder, I was confronted with a number of subfolders, and an uninstaller. I had trouble finding the application at first! It turns out it lives in the bin subfolder. It would be nice if they included an alias to the main folder. Likewise, when you save a project it goes to the projects subfolder, building goes to output etc. This wasn’t a problem once I got used to it, but I was expecting to be able to choose locations for all of those things.
InstallBuilder creates an XML project file that contains links to your files, and locations for where to install everything. It then uses this file to build your installers. Unfortunately, you can’t modify all of your installer’s properties with the InstallBuilder’s UI. Some things require you to modify the XML file directly. For example, I wanted my installer to default the name of the installation folder to my company name rather than my game’s name. This change required me to modify the XML. This wasn’t very well documented, but Bitrock’s support team was very quick to respond to my questions, and tell me how to make the change. They also listened and added some of my suggestions to their feature request database. I give them high marks for customer support.

Once your installer project is set up, its very easy to update. Just update the version number in your product details, make sure the installer is pointing to the latest build of your .exe and hit Build. I could easily build a similar Mac installer at the same time, but as I have mentioned before I prefer the disk image approach. It would be nice if InstallBuilder gave you the option to create that sort of installation on the mac. As it is I use Araelium Group’s DMG Canvas to create my Mac installer. Its an extra step in my publishing process, but feels better to me.
My biggest problem with InstallBuilder is the price. I would gladly pay as much as $40 for the ease and convenience of building Windows installers on my mac. Bitrock’s posted price of $1,995 makes me gasp. Having received the software for free as a uDev prize, I have found it very useful, but I couldn’t see myself ever paying that much for this software, especially when free Windows alternatives like Inno Setup exist. Bitrock does offer InstallBuilder for free to open source developers however. Their website also states that they offer discounts for businesses with less than 5 employees as well. I would be curious how much this discount is.
Conclusion
If you can get InstallBuilder discounted, or you work for a big company that makes a lot of multi-platform instlallers, I recommend this software. Once you get used to the interface, its easy to use and creates rock solid, nice looking installers. If you only need to make Windows installers, can’t get a discount, and don’t need any advanced functionality I might try a free alternative like inno setup first.
Pros
- Easily create nice professional looking installers for Windows and other operating systems without ever leaving your mac.
- Free to open source developers
- Good customer service.
Cons
- Expensive for non-open source (Though there is an unspecified discount for small businesses).
- Un Mac-like interface.
- Can’t create .dmg / applications folder alias Mac installer
Details
- Company: BitRock
- URL: http://bitrock.com
- Version: 6.0
- Category: Installer
- MRSP: $795 (Mac OS X), Pro $1,395, Pro Site $4,495, Enterprise $1,995, Enterprise Suite $6,995