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https://github.com/jrsoftware/issrc

Inno Setup is an open-source installation builder for Windows applications by Jordan Russell and Martijn Laan. Since its introduction in 1997, Inno Setup has been trusted by developers and organizations of all sizes to reliably deploy software to millions of PCs worldwide.
https://github.com/jrsoftware/issrc

inno-setup installer

Last synced: 27 days ago
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Inno Setup is an open-source installation builder for Windows applications by Jordan Russell and Martijn Laan. Since its introduction in 1997, Inno Setup has been trusted by developers and organizations of all sizes to reliably deploy software to millions of PCs worldwide.

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README 

          
Inno Setup

==========



Copyright (C) 1997-2026 Jordan Russell. All rights reserved.

Portions Copyright (C) 2000-2026 Martijn Laan. All rights reserved.

For conditions of distribution and use, see LICENSE.TXT.



Source code README



Getting Started

---------------



1. **Obtain sources**



    First you need to download the sources from Github. From the command line do:



    ```

    > git clone https://github.com/jrsoftware/issrc.git issrc

    > cd issrc

    > git submodule init

    > git submodule update

    ```



    If you don't have the Git client (`git`), get it from:



    https://git-scm.com/



    To update your sources from the command line do:

    ```

    > git pull

    > git submodule update

    ```



    To be able to contribute to Inno Setup, clone your own fork instead of

    cloning the main Inno Setup repository, commit your work on topic branches

    and make pull requests. See [CONTRIBUTING.md].



2. **Install Embarcadero Delphi**



   We compile all of Inno Setup's projects under Delphi 12.3 Athens with the

   May Patch installed.



   There's a free version of Delphi available called the Community Edition.

   See https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi/starter/free-download.



   After installation of Delphi, you must install GetIt dependencies by

   running **getit.bat** and following the instructions.



3. **Install Microsoft HTML Help Workshop**



   Install Microsoft HTML Help Workshop if you haven't already done so.

   See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/htmlhelp/microsoft-html-help-downloads and

   http://web.archive.org/web/20160201063255/http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/A/9/0A939EF6-E31C-430F-A3DF-DFAE7960D564/htmlhelp.exe



   Note: Microsoft HTML Help Workshop is only needed to be able to compile the

   help file.



4. **Build Inno Setup**



   Unfortunately, Embarcadero has removed command line compilation support

   from the Community Edition, which means there's two different build

   scripts.



   Community Edition: To build all files in Release mode run **build-ce.bat**

   and follow the instructions.



   Otherwise: To build all files in Release mode run **build.bat** and follow

   the instructions.



   To just compile 64-bit Inno Setup in Release mode run **compile.bat x64**

   and follow the instructions. Run **compile.bat x86** for 32-bit Inno Setup.

   These batch files cannot be used with the Community Edition, open

   Projects\Projects.groupproj instead.



   To just compile the Inno Setup help file and its web version run

   **compile.bat x64 ishelpgen** and **ISHelp\compile.bat** and follow the

   instructions. The former batch file cannot be used with the

   Community Edition, open Projects\Projects.groupproj instead.



Component Installation

----------------------



If you intend to view or modify the Setup project's forms, you must install

the following component units, which can be found in the [Components]

directory.



- BitmapButton

- BitmapImage

- FolderTreeView

- NewCheckListBox

- NewCtrls

- NewNotebookReg

- NewProgressBar

- NewStaticText

- PasswordEdit

- RichEditViewer



If you intend to view or modify the ISIDE project's forms, you must

additionally install the following components.



- DropListBox

- NewTabSet



The [Components] directory contains a Components.dpk file which you can use to

install all these components.



If you only want to edit code, then you may skip installation of the

components, and choose "Cancel" if the Delphi IDE tells you a class can't

be found.



The [Components] directory also includes various units that are not

installable components; however, they are still considered components

because they can function independently from Inno Setup.



Overview

--------



Inno Setup consists of eight projects:



**ISIDE** - This is the GUI front-end for the compiler, also known as

the Compiler IDE. ISIDE does not do the actual compilation itself; it

relegates it to ISCmplr.dll. If the ISCmplr project is changed, you

normally don't need to recompile ISIDE since it's essentially a text

editor, and is not affected by internal changes to the compiler.



**ISCC** - This is the command-line front-end to the compiler. Like

ISIDE, it depends on ISCmplr.dll to do the actual compiling.



**ISCmplr** - This is a DLL which is loaded by ISIDE and ISCC to compile

scripts. The actual compiler code is in Compiler.SetupCompiler.pas. See

Shared.CompInt.pas for the various structures and function declarations used

to interface to the DLL.



**ISPP** - This is a DLL implementing Inno Setup's preprocessor interface.



**Setup** - This is the actual "Setup" program. It displays the wizard, and

performs all (un)installation-related tasks.



**SetupCustomStyle** - Identical to Setup, except that it includes code to

support VCL Styles.



**SetupLdr** - This is the "setup loader." It self-extracts a compressed

Setup program into the user's TEMP directory and runs it from there. It also

displays the "This will install..." and /HELP message boxes.



**ISSigTool** - This is a command-line utility which can be used to sign and verify

any of your files. ISIDE, ISCC, and ISCmplr use these signatures to verify the

authenticity of a number of DLL, E32, E64, and EXE files before loading them. Note: this

utility does not replace Microsoft's signtool.exe in any way and is in fact not

related to Authenticode Code Signing at all.



How do the projects link together?



- ISIDE, ISCmplr, ISPP, Setup, SetupCustomStyle, and SetupLdr share the unit

  Shared.Struct.pas. This unit contains various data structures and constants

  shared by the projects. If Shared.Struct.pas is changed, you usually will need

  to recompile all these projects and the required targets using the Release64 or

  Debug64 build group so that everything is in synch.



- There are more units which are shared between projects. Search the .dpr

  files of the projects if you aren't sure if a project uses a particular

  unit.



Source code tips

----------------



- When building the projects in Release mode, it outputs to [Files]. Before

  running ISIDE, ensure that all .issig files are up to date. Use the

  Release64 build group to ensure all required targets are built.



- You can open the Build Groups pane from the Projects tool window.



- When building the projects in Debug mode, it outputs to [Projects\Bin] and when

  debugging, it will run from within this directory. To prepare this directory

  with some extra files you must run **Projects\Bin\synch-isfiles.bat**. Running

  the aforementioned **build.bat** or **build-ce.bat** first is not necessary.



- To debug the Setup project, you should first build the Debug64 build group,

  then run the ISIDE project and compile the Debug.iss script which

  should open automatically, and finally open and run the Setup project.

  This way you can simulate an actual installation while running under the

  Delphi debugger.



- To debug the SetupLdr project, first build the Debug64 build group and compile

  the Debug.iss script as explained above, except with the `UseSetupLdr=no` line

  set to `yes`. Then open and run the SetupLdr project with a 32-bit or 64-bit

  target (latter does not require using `UseSetupLdr=x64`). It will automatically

  set a special debug-only `/SELFFILENAME=Setup.exe` command line parameter,

  which will cause it to load and run the Setup.exe you just compiled using

  ISIDE, instead of the SetupLdr.e32 or .e64 just compiled by Delphi.



- To debug the uninstaller first run Setup.exe to completion with the

  `/DETACHEDMSG` command line parameter set. Afterwards copy uninst000.dat and

  uninst000.msg as setup.dat and setup.msg to the [Projects\Bin] directory in your

  issrc path. Then open the Setup project and set the command line parameters to

  `/UNINSTMODE /KEEPEXEDATMSG "/SECONDPHASE=` so that it's displayed in a monospaced font. This is

  a convention used throughout the help file. Example: `MinVersion`



Setting up Continuous Integration

---------------------------------



Inno Setup's source code includes a GitHub workflow named **build.yml** that

performs unattended builds upon `push` events, it requires some setting up, though.



Note: The following instructions assume that you have a correctly-licensed version

of Delphi installed and ran **getit.bat** as mentioned above. Your Delphi version

may not be a Community Edition because it does not support command line compilation.

Also ensure your current Delphi license still allows you to copy a subset of the

Delphi files to another machine for the specific purpose of supporting unattended

builds.



First, run **rsvars.bat** from your Delphi Bin directory and then in the same session

generate an encrypted `.zip` file containing the files needed to build Inno Setup

using [7-Zip]:



```

cd /d "%BDS%"

"%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -mx9 -mem=AES256 -p"" ^

  %USERPROFILE%\issrc-build-env.zip ^

  bin\dcc32.exe bin\rlink32.dll bin\lnk*.dll ^

  lib\win32\release\Sys*.dcu lib\win32\release\*.res ^

  lib\win32\release\System.*.dcu lib\win32\release\System.Generics.*.dcu ^

  lib\win32\release\System.Internal.*.dcu lib\win32\release\System.Net.*.dcu ^

  lib\win32\release\System.Net.HttpClient.*.dcu lib\win32\release\System.Win.*.dcu ^

  lib\win32\release\Vcl.*.dcu lib\win32\release\Vcl.Imaging.*.dcu ^

  lib\win32\release\Winapi.*.dcu ^

  bin\dcc64.exe ^

  lib\win64\release\Sys*.dcu lib\win64\release\*.res ^

  lib\win64\release\System.*.dcu lib\win64\release\System.Generics.*.dcu ^

  lib\win64\release\System.Internal.*.dcu lib\win64\release\System.Net.*.dcu ^

  lib\win64\release\System.Net.HttpClient.*.dcu lib\win64\release\System.Win.*.dcu ^

  lib\win64\release\Vcl.*.dcu lib\win64\release\Vcl.Imaging.*.dcu ^

  lib\win64\release\Winapi.*.dcu ^

  bin\cgrc.exe bin\lnkdfm*.dll bin\rc.exe bin\RcDLL.dll ^

  bin\Borland.Build.Tasks.Common.dll bin\Borland.Build.Tasks.Delphi.dll bin\Borland.Build.Tasks.Shared.dll bin\Borland.Globalization.dll ^

  bin\CodeGear.Common.targets bin\CodeGear.Delphi.Targets bin\CodeGear.Group.Targets bin\CodeGear.Profiles.Targets

cd /d "%BDSCOMMONDIR%"

"%ProgramFiles%\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -mx9 -mem=AES256 -p"" ^

  %USERPROFILE%\issrc-build-env.zip ^

  Styles\SlateClassico.vsf ^

  Styles\Windows11_Modern_Dark.vsf ^

  Styles\Windows11_Modern_Light.vsf ^

  Styles\Windows11_Polar_Dark.vsf ^

  Styles\Windows11_Polar_Light.vsf ^

  Styles\Zircon.vsf

```



Then, upload this encrypted file somewhere public. After that, add its URL as a new repository

[secret] (at https://github.com/YOUR-USER-NAME/issrc/settings/secrets/actions), under the name

`ISSRC_BUILD_ENV_ZIP_URL`, and the password as `ISSRC_BUILD_ENV_ZIP_PASSWORD`.



Finally, indicate that your fork of the repository has those secrets, by adding the

topic `has-issrc-build-env` (click the gear icon next to the "About" label at

https://github.com/YOUR-USER-NAME/issrc to add the topic).



Once that's done, you're set! The next time you push a branch to your fork, the

workflow will be triggered automatically.



To set up automatic synchronization for your fork, first create a Fine-Grained Personal

Access Token (at https://github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens) with access to your

fork or all repositories you own, ensuring it has Read and Write permissions for Contents,

Workflows, and (see below) optionally also for Pull Requests. After that, add this token as

a new repository secret, under the name `ISSRC_BUILD_ENV_SYNC_TOKEN`. Finally, indicate that

your fork has this secret, by adding the topic `has-issrc-build-env-sync-token`. Your fork

will now synchronize daily, and will automatically run the aforementioned build workflow on

changes, if it's configured.



If you also create a draft PR to merge `main` into a branch named `copilot-review`, and you

have included permissions for Pull Requests as well as access to Copilot reviews, then it

will automatically request a review from Copilot once the synchronization completes. You

should then regularly fast-forward your branch to the commit immediately preceding the

head of `main`. Do not fast-forward to the head of `main`, as this will close your PR and

you will not be able to recreate it until another commit is made. After fast-forwarding,

close and reopen the PR on GitHub to make it display updated information.



Both automatic synchronization and automatic review use workflow **sync-fork.yml**.



To perform a second unattended build using a different Delphi version, add topic

`has-issrc-build2-env` and secrets `ISSRC_BUILD2_ENV_ZIP_URL` and

`ISSRC_BUILD2_ENV_ZIP_PASSWORD`. Unlike the main build, the second build does not produce

any artifacts. It uses workflow **build2.yml**.



[CONTRIBUTING.md]: 

[Projects\Bin]: 

[Components]: 

[Files]: 

[Projects\Src\Compression.LZMACompressor\islzma]: 

[Examples\MyDll]: 

[Examples\MyProg]: 

[Projects\Src]: 

[Projects\Src\ISIDE]: 

[Projects\Src\Compression.LZMADecompressor\Lzma2Decode]: 

[Projects\Src\Compression.LZMA1SmallDecompressor\LzmaDecode]: 

[Projects\Src\Compression.SevenZipDecoder\7zDecode]: 

[7-Zip]: https://www.7-zip.org/

[secret]: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/encrypted-secrets

[this public key file]: https://files.jrsoftware.org/is/misc/def01.ispublickey

[is7z]: https://github.com/jrsoftware/is7z

[iscompress]: https://github.com/jrsoftware/iscompress

[isscint]: https://github.com/jrsoftware/isscint