go-installer

README

go-installer

Install tooling for the go-apps family: give every app a native install experience on each OS.

Status: work in progress.

macOS — styled DMG

A classic drag-to-Applications DMG, generated in the release CI.

• cmd/mkdmg — builds the DMG: stages the app, an /Applications symlink and the family background, mounts the image unbrowsed, writes the Finder layout (.DS_Store) via a short-lived Python helper, detaches and compresses. The helper exits before detach on purpose: long-lived processes holding files on the volume make hdiutil detach fail with "resource busy" on recent macOS (this is why dmgbuild alone wasn't used).
• macos/background — renders the family background (graphite, arrow) as background.png + background@2x.png; tiffutil -cathidpicheck merges them into the retina background.tiff that ships inside the DMG.

The family background is embedded in the tool, so a release CI needs just:

pip install ds-store mac-alias
go run github.com/viniciusbuscacio/go-installer/cmd/mkdmg@latest \
    -app path/to/go-calc.app \
    -volname go-calc -out go-calc-v0.1.3-macos-arm64.dmg

To change the background: edit macos/background/gen.go, then

go run ./macos/background -out macos/background
tiffutil -cathidpicheck macos/background/background.png \
    macos/background/background@2x.png -out macos/background/background.tiff
cp macos/background/background.tiff cmd/mkdmg/background.tiff  # re-embed

The volume name is the app name (no version) so the layout stays identical across releases.

Windows — the classic setup.exe, embedded

The release ships the SAME binary twice — <app>.exe inside the zip just runs the app (portable, no wizard ever), and the bare <app>-<tag>-windows-amd64-setup.exe asset opens as a "next → next → finish" install wizard. Running the setup again with the app already installed offers Reinstall / Uninstall instead. This package (windows/, import path github.com/viniciusbuscacio/go-installer/windows) is the mechanics behind it — library without UI; each app draws the wizard, like go-updates.

Everything is per-user, no admin rights:

• RunningAsSetup — is this process the -setup.exe copy? Decided by the exe's base name, so the release CI only has to upload the binary under a second name (and a browser's app-setup (1).exe rename still counts).
• App.Installed / App.InstallDir — detect whether the running exe is the installed copy (default %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\<app>, or the custom folder recorded in the registry).
• App.InstalledInfo — where and which version Apps & Features says the app is installed, if at all: the setup exe's Reinstall/Uninstall screen.
• App.Install — copy the running exe there and register the app in Apps & Features (HKCU uninstall key: display name, version, publisher, estimated size, "<exe>" --uninstall as the uninstall command).
• App.CreateShortcuts — Start Menu and/or Desktop .lnk, resolved via known folders (a OneDrive-redirected Desktop still works), created through the WScript.Shell COM object.
• App.Uninstall + MaybeCleanup — full removal: shortcuts, registry entry, the app's data directories (the family decision: uninstalling removes everything) and the REGISTERED install folder (safe to invoke from the setup exe in Downloads). A running exe cannot delete itself, so Uninstall relaunches a helper copy from %TEMP%; MaybeCleanup, called first thing in the app's main, does the removal inside that copy and then removes the copy too.
• UninstallRequested / Launch — small helpers for the app's boot logic and the wizard's final "open the app".

Reference integration: go-calc (install_windows.go + the InstallerView.vue wizard).

License

MIT