Can you create a setup.exe in qt to install your app on a client computer

Question

I have created a desktop app and now I need to install in on a client's computer.

However, the client would like to have a wizard to install. Like Visual Studio setup project allows you to add an installer.

Does Qt allow you to create an installer or do I need to use a 3rd party installer like InstallShield or Wise?

Answer 1

You definitely need a third party installer. A few good ones have already been mentioned. If you decide to go with a paid solution bitrock's installer is a perfect choice and they are also Qt centric and their main business is around Qt.

As an open source alternative I would suggest NSIS

Answer 2

I use Inno and like it a lot. I've tried a few others and this one worked well for me. (and free)

Answer 3

You should use the Qt Installer Framework : http://doc.qt.io/qtinstallerframework/ifw-overview.html

Answer 4

If you only target Windows, you can use WiX (Windows Installer XML), which can be integrated into Visual Studio and MSBuild, so relatively easy to use. It's free and produces valid MSI files, which may be a requirement anyway.

If you rather need a simple wizard setup, give InnoSetup a try.

Answer 5

I think better to use a third party software like installshield. They are optimized for the packaging purpose and provide much customizable options.

Answer 6

If you have Visual Studio already, you can continue to use a setup project to distribute your application. The tools are built in. This is the technology that WiX "replaced" (more on that later), and it's what I do. It's not an ideal solution, but it gets me an MSI, which is how Windows software should be installed these days. Using InstallShield or something might be better, but to be honest I've never had a good experience with any third party installers. This is why I just stuck with the less-than-ideal setup project; it beats spending a lot on expensive, ugly and often frustrating third party installer creation tools. In short, it's a very pragmatic solution, and pragmatic solutions make sense.

As for WiX: I really don't recommend it at all. It seems like a great idea, but after a few months I found myself switching back to the setup projects. Even though he's been using WiX for a year more than I have been using setup projects, our WiX expert takes twice as long to get anything done. (He's a terrific programmer, too, just a bit blinded by open source.) You end up with thousands of copied text lines that you need to maintain. With a couple different projects, it becomes an unmaintainable mess.

I would not suggest attempting to build an installer in Qt yourself. In addition to having to get a lot of behavior just right, as a Qt application it will require the Qt libraries. Unless you statically link them, which is possible with the commercial edition (not LGPL) but difficult and not recommended. Plus then you'd be including two copies of the Qt libraries in your download.

Qt itself seems to use the nullsoft installer. That alone should tell you building your own is not a good idea. :)