WiX

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WiX is an XML toolset that builds Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages from an XML document. WiX stands for The Windows Installer Xml (WiX) toolset (pronounced wicks toolset), it supports a command line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages. This software is released by Microsoft under an open-source license called Common Public License.

1 Internal structure
- 1.1 Candle
- 1.2 Light
- 1.3 Lit
- 1.4 Dark
2 History
3 References
4 External links

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Internal structure

Wix is composed of four parts: Candle, Light, Lit, and Dark.

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Candle

Candle, the Compiler, is used to compile the XML documents to object files that contain symbols and references to symbols.

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Light

Light, the Linker takes one or more object files and links the references in the object files to the appropriate symbols in other object files. Light is also responsible for collecting all of the binaries, packaging them appropriately, and generating the final MSI or MSM file.

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Lit

Lit, the Lib Tool The lib tool, called lit, is an optional tool that can be used to combine multiple object files into libraries that can be parsed by light.

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Dark

Dark, the Decompiler takes existing MSI and MSM files and generates XML documents that represents the package.

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History

On April 5 2004 WiX was the first Microsoft project to be released under an externally created Open Source licence, the Common Public License. It was also the first Microsoft Shared Source project to be hosted externally (on SourceForge).

Rob Mensching, the original author and lead developer of WiX, works on WiX in his spare time. At the time of release he said, "I did not feel that many people inside Microsoft understood what the Open Source community was really about and I wanted to improve that understanding by providing an example."

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