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Chapter 3: MakeNSIS Usage

NSIS installers are generated by using the 'MakeNSIS' program to compile a NSIS script (.NSI) into an installer executable. The NSIS development kit installer sets up your computer so that you can compile a .nsi file by simply right-clicking on it in explorer, and selecting 'compile'.

If you want to use MakeNSIS on the command line, the syntax of the makensis command is:

Makensis [/Vx] [/Olog] [/LICENSE] [/PAUSE] [/NOCONFIG] [/CMDHELP [command]] [/HDRINFO] [/NOCD]
         [/Ddefine[=value] ...] ["/XCommand parameter" ...] [Script.nsi | - [...]]

• /LICENSE displays a keen license page.
• The /V switch followed by a number between 0 and 4 will set the verbosity of output accordingly. 0=no output, 1=errors only, 2=warnings and errors, 3=info, warnings, and errors, 4=all output.
• The /O switch followed by a filename tells the compiler to print its log to that file (instead of the screen)
• /PAUSE makes Makensis pause before quitting, which is useful when executing directly from Windows (the auto-installed shell extensions use it).
• /NOCONFIG disables inclusion of [path to makensis.exe]\nsisconf.nsh . Without this parameter, installer defaults are set from nsisconf.nsi. See NSIS Configuration File.
• /CMDHELP prints basic usage information for command (if specified), or all commands (if command is not specified).
• /HDRINFO prints out information on what options Makensis was compiled with.
• /NOCD disabled the current directory change to that of the .nsi file
• Using the /D switch one or more times will add to symbols to the globally defined list (See !define).
• Using the /X switch one or more times will execute the code you specify following it. Example: "/XAutoCloseWindow false"
• Specifying a dash (-) for the script name will tell Makensis to use the standard input as a source.
• If multiple scripts are specified, they are treated as one concatenated script.

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