Windows-related ideas for bzr

[Andrew Voznytsa]

> Andrew Voznytsa пишет:
> > Besides that I'd note that it would be useful (at least for me) if
> Bazaar
> > (Windows version) will:
> > 1) search for shared plugins in \Documents and Settings\All
> > Users\Application Data\bazaar\2.0\plugins\
> 
> Initially I think about placing system-wide plugins to
> C:\Program Files\Bazaar\Plugins
> 
> But your idea is better. There is need to check how it will work
> in the case non-admin installation, but generally it's OK for me.

Both ideas are good. It is up to software developer to decide.

> 
> > 2) have MSI-based installer, helps to automate software installation
> 
> We already have installer for standalone and python-based version of bzr.
> It's not *.msi, but setup-*.exe instead. You have some strong reason
> to avoid exe-installers?

If software is packaged as MSI there are a few nice options for software
deployment. Please follow link below
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Group-Policy-Deploy-Appl
ications.html and read article. It will explain using group policy for
application deployment and this feature is main reason why MSI is better
than setup-*.exe.

> 
> Or, you talking about installing plugins as well as bzr.exe?

I guess installing plugins together with bzr.exe would be much simpler
because in this case you can be sure that library.zip has all required
modules.

> 
> > 3) integrate existing plugins into installer as option, even if they are
> > unstable (on Windows). This will help make them better. I'm interested
> (at
> > least) in bzrtools and bzr-svn.
> 
> (All our life is unstable.)
> 
> I think your proposal is doable. And actually it's not very hard to do.
> (But I'm not sure when and who will implement this.)
> 

It is easy to install bzrtools. I tried bzr-svn but failed with Python
dependencies for svn (I'm new with Python, prefer C/C++ or even asm).


Everything above is just ideas how to make bzr better. If someone would
implement some of those features then I may help with testing.

At some point I'm planning to play with MSI. As learning course I may
implement MSI installer for bazaar. It shouldn't be too hard.
http://wix.sourceforge.net looks like good candidate for MSI building.

Best regards,
Andrew Voznytsa