Windows .exe/.msi releases

[HelloZeroNet]

It would be nice to have a more regular, .exe releases for windows that also includes the source code, so no need to download it from github on first startup.

• What liblary should we use? PyInstaller, py2exe, etc.
• Single executable (unpacked to temp directory on startup) or normal, 6-7 file distribution?
• Signing?
• Automatization?
• Source code packed into .exe or separately in .zip/directory?
• What about updates?
• Plugins?
• Is it possible to submit it to Windows Store?
• Alternative .msi or .exe installer with autostart option?
• Where to store data/config file/third-party plugins?

[HelloZeroNet]

I was able to create a .exe with PyInstaller. It's less than 10MB (zipped) with everything packed in: Python, ZeroNet source code and dependecies, Coffeescript, Openssl, msvc*dlls

Currently it's looks like this:

So pretty messy....It would be nice to move the supporter files to separate directory eg. Lib.

Need help

Unfortunately PyInstaller did not support this (pyinstaller/pyinstaller#1048), so it would be nice if anyone could add this feature or modify the bootloader: https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/tree/develop/bootloader

Other todo:

• Higher resolution icon
• Data/Log dir outside of Include
• Test update from https/zeronet

[ysc3839]

I don't like single executable. I don't think single executable is good. I suggest release an installer and a zip with source code bundled.
Use NSIS to create installers.

Signing: Windows's digital signature requires a certificate, which cost a lot. So I suggest using GunPG and sha1/sha256 hash.

I think it's possible to run Python on WinRT. (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14211949/python-in-windows-store-apps)

[HelloZeroNet]

I'm not talking about single file exe, but to move the .dll and .pyd files to a sub-directory to make it look more clean and more easy to find the executable. The keep it updateable from zeronet network the full source code is still there, it's in the Include directory. (I'm not sure about this name, maybe we should name it something different, ideas?)

I found a company that give cert for opensrouce applications for 14EUR: https://en.sklep.certum.pl/data-safety/code-signing-certificates/open-source-code-signing.html

Already signed up, but it requires Java and the interface is half polish, so I was unable to complete the registration, will try again later.

[ysc3839]

Your idea (move the .dll and .pyd files to a sub-directory) is same as mine.
As for certificate, you can sign the installer exe. But you can't sign a zip file.

[HelloZeroNet]

At least we can sign the zeronet.exe in the zip to avoid the notification about unsigned application.

[HelloZeroNet]

I found that it's possible to move the directly imported pyd files to different directory, so it's looks better now:

Any ideas on the directory name where the .py files (zeronet source code) will be stored? Some ideas:

• Source (we already have an src directory, so in this case it will be Source/src/ which is a little bit odd)
• Include
• Application
• Program FIles (just kidding)
• Core
• System
• Support
• Runtime

[ysc3839]

What tools are you using to build these files?

At least we can sign the zeronet.exe in the zip to avoid the notification about unsigned application.

You should sign all .dll files includes .pyd files.

[HelloZeroNet]

It's generated by pyinstaller

You should sign all .dll files includes .pyd files.

I don't think os or python checks the signatures.

[HelloZeroNet]

New problem: I want to create a zip that have everything to go (python, openssl, sourcecode), but this means the .zip has to be updated pretty often. Which will make the ZeroBundle repository huge.
Sure, I could distribute the files from zeronet.io, but it would make it easy to block.
Is there any way to to replace binary files in git repo without keeping the history? (or any trick to keep the .git directory smaller)

[ysc3839]

You can(should) upload .zip files to GitHub's releases.
IIRC, GitHub provides API to upload releases. You can use curl to upload it automatically.

[HelloZeroNet]

Yeah, but it makes the mirroring harder, since it does not get propogated automatically to:

• https://try.gogs.io/ZeroNet/ZeroNet
• https://gitlab.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet

New idea: Instead of uploading the zip file, create separate repository for ZeroNet-win / ZeroNet-mac, add the exe/app/ddl/pyd and the source code as normal files, then let the provider to pack it, eg.: https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/archive/master.zip

Is there any way to mirror the commits? So any commit that is submitted to ZeroNet repository have to be also added to ZeroNet-win/core directory

[HelloZeroNet]

signed, .exe version: https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet-win/archive/dist.zip

[ysc3839]

You should include the ".manifest" file into ZeroNet.exe's resources.