Adding Portable mode to installer

[yulian5]

Far installer has options to install it for the current user and for all users.
What do you think: Does it make sense to add option "Install in Portable Mode"?
It will be very convenient.

[yegor-mialyk]

I do not believe the MSI (MS Installer) supports a "portable mode". It's contrary to the purpose of the installer.

On the other hand, the other installers may support such a mode.

[alabuzhev]

We publish 7z archives, completely identical to msi, for this very purpose.

Anticipating the "but what if I can't unpack 7z" argument:
msiexec /a your_package.msi TARGETDIR=c:\far

[yulian5]

I don't think anybody has problems with 7z.
The problem is that the Far from 7z archive uses users' settings.
The portable app should have own Far.exe.ini and separate settings in its portable folder.

[alabuzhev]

Ah, this kind of portable.

[yulian5]

Yes, it may serve a few purposes:

• have a few different versions of Far on PC for different purposes (with different color schemes/other settings)
• test new Far versions without saving/breaking settings along with existing versions
• easier backup or replicate Far to VM or other PC
• have portable Far on USB drives that matches PC settings

[yulian5]

@yegor-mialyk

I do not believe the MSI (MS Installer) supports a "portable mode". It's contrary to the purpose of the installer.

Actually MS considers it as multipurpose tool Using Windows Installer.

If you take an app like Far2, then yes, it will be an impossible task for MSI, but Far3 itself is basically portable.
For MSI the task won't change significantly (writing in one folder instead of three, supplying some additional files, maybe additional customization).

Another option is to make fully portable Far3 as 7-zip archive (new archive, modification of existing one, or combo-archive).

[HamRusTal]

Far3 itself is basically portable

Not quite so, as Windows Installer essentially lists each individual file in the Registry — that's not what is called Portable.

[yegor-mialyk]

@HamRusTal, he has slightly different understanding of what is "portable", which is why I decided not to continue the conversation. He most likely just wants to have Far.exe.ini pre-configured for "portable" mode (UseSystemProfiles=0). Even though the result of the installation can be copied and used portably, the way the installation folder and installation process itself is treated by Windows OS is far from what we think is "portable".

[d4rkmen]

Portable mode would be very usefull ++