Requirements

============

Building the Inno installer requires a Windows machine.

The following system dependencies must be installed:

* Python 2.7 (download from https://www.python.org/downloads/)

* Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python 2.7

  (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44266)

* Inno Setup (http://jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) version 5.4 or newer.

  Be sure to install the optional Inno Setup Preprocessor feature,

  which is required.

* Python 3.5+ (to run the ``build.py`` script)

Building

========

The ``build.py`` script automates the process of producing an

Inno installer. It manages fetching and configuring the

non-system dependencies (such as py2exe, gettext, and various

Python packages).

The script requires an activated ``Visual C++ 2008`` command prompt.

A shortcut to such a prompt was installed with ``Microsoft Visual C++

Compiler for Python 2.7``. From your Start Menu, look for

``Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler Package for Python 2.7`` then launch

either ``Visual C++ 2008 32-bit Command Prompt`` or

``Visual C++ 2008 64-bit Command Prompt``.

From the prompt, change to the Mercurial source directory. e.g.

``cd c:\src\hg``.

Next, invoke ``build.py`` to produce an Inno installer. You will

need to supply the path to the Python interpreter to use.:

   $ python3.exe contrib\packaging\inno\build.py \

       --python c:\python27\python.exe

.. note::

   The script validates that the Visual C++ environment is

   active and that the architecture of the specified Python

   interpreter matches the Visual C++ environment and errors

   if not.

If everything runs as intended, dependencies will be fetched and

configured into the ``build`` sub-directory, Mercurial will be built,

and an installer placed in the ``dist`` sub-directory. The final

line of output should print the name of the generated installer.

Additional options may be configured. Run ``build.py --help`` to

see a list of program flags.

MinGW

=====

It is theoretically possible to generate an installer that uses

MinGW. This isn't well tested and ``build.py`` and may properly

support it. See old versions of this file in version control for

potentially useful hints as to how to achieve this.