Added support for Windows native 64-bit installer binaries

InstallBuilder 19.5.0 is now available and comes with an important update.

As you may know, InstallBuilder already comes with support for building native 64-bit installers for Linux and macOS. We are happy to announce that we've added support for building native 64bit installers for Windows as well.

This provides multiple benefits compared to existing approach.  While previously it was possible to make InstallBuilder installers behave like a 64-bit application, the binary runtime was actually 32-bit binary and required 32-bit support in the operating system.

With the new approach, it is possible to use the installers inside Windows flavors that only allow running 64-bit binaries, such as Windows Nano Server. Creating 64-bit binaries also allows configuring larger block sizes for the installer, by setting larger values for the <lzmaUltraBlockSize> project property. This allows the creation of smaller installers. However, with the 32-bit binaries, setting the block size increases memory usage and memory fragmentation, which can lead to the installer failing. This is now possible and fully supported with 64-bit Windows binaries.

To build native 64bit installers, all that is needed is to specify `windows-x64` as the build platform - such as the by running the following in the command line:

    ./builder.exe build sample.xml windows-x64

Here is the complete list of changes for version 19.5.0:

• Added new windows-x64 build platform
• Added 64-bit version of osxsigner tool
• Fixed malformed logic in <iniFileTest> rule
• Fixed welcome page displaying truncated trailing letters on some macOS environments
• Updated documentation

InstallBuilder 19.4.0 and 19.4.1 released

We recently released version 19.4.0 and 19.4.1. Among other improvements and bug fixes, we have extended the <componentTest> rule which now allows you to check if a parent component is selected. You can do so by setting the new <checkParentComponents> property.  

<componentTest>

  <logic>selected</logic>

  <name>childcomponent</name>

  <checkParentComponents>1</checkParentComponents>

</componentTest>

Here is the full list of improvements for both releases. 

Version 19.4.1:

• 
  

  Fixed incorrect final page layout on macOS when enabling the osx-x86_64 runtime
• 
  

  Improved <setInstallerVariableFromRegEx> error reporting

Version 19.4.0

• 
  

  Improved <getPermissions> error reporting when operating over non-existent files
• 
  

  Fixed Windows AutoUpdate generation failing because of malformed default icon
• 
  

  Allow <componentTest> rule to take into account parent components in its checks