nanoInstall is a very tiny installer. It can only install files into a single folder (not even into subfolders of that folder). It is meant to be used in those occasions where the overhead of a simple self-extracting archive is thought to be too high, such as when one wants to distribute a small extension with its Read Me file. Also, it might be a useful way to distribute AppleScript applets. AppleScript applets can modify themselves very easily, and the Finder does not allow one to specify that an application is a ‘stationary pad’. Encapsulating the applet in a nanoInstaller ensures that users will always be able to recreate an ‘empty’ applet. The alternative of storing the applet in an archive may be less attractive because users tend to throw away archives easier then they do applications. Alternatively, storing the applet in a self-extracting archive may be too much overhead (for instance, StuffIt self-extracting archives have an overhead of about 18K).
Configuring nanoInstall
Take a fresh copy of nanoInstall, and launch it. A standard file selection dialog appears. Select the first file you want to be installed in the installation. The dialog keeps reappearing, allowing you to select further files to include. Click ‘Cancel’ to end the configuration.
The files you selected are added as resources of types ‘data’, ‘rsrc’, ‘info’, and ‘name’ to the resource fork of the copy of nanoInstall you ran. For this to work, nanoInstall must have enough memory to read in entire forks of the file. Thus, nanoInstall is not suited for the installation of large files. For large files, the overhead of a larger installer would not matter much, anyway. Moreover, larger installers often can compress files, leading to smaller distribution sizes.
Feel free to customize the resulting application at will. Things to think of include:
• Replacement of the prompt strings (‘STR ’ resources, #128 and #129)
• Removal or replacement of the custom icons
• Replacement of the ‘vers’ resources.
• Adjustment of the ‘SIZE’ resource.
• Using a tool to compress the resources in nanoInstall.
Using the installer
The resulting installation program is absolutely minimal. Double-click it, and it comes up with a standard dialog box, asking for the file or folder to create. Click ‘OK’, and it installs the files.
Limitations/known Problems
nanoInstall does not do much error checking. If something goes wrong, it simply beeps, and quits. It does not try to clean up partial installs, nor does it give any reason as to why it fails. Since the main reason nanoInstall might fail is lack of disk space to install the files, this is yet another reason to use nanoInstall only for small installations.
Another common reason of failure is the fact that, during configuration, nanoInstall does not check whether the names of the selected files are all different. If you select a given file twice, or if you select files with equal names in two different folders, nanoInstall will not be able to install the second file, and therefore end the installation process.
Distribution policy
nanoInstall is freeware, but its author, Reinder Verlinde, retains the copyright. It may be distributed in any way, including on CD-ROMs, as long as it is distributed complete with source code and documentation.
