What tool do you use to create an installer for your desktop applications?

This page summarizes the projects mentioned and recommended in the original post on /r/dotnet

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  • wix3

    WiX Toolset v3.x

  • I am currently using the WiX Toolset to create installers for a legacy WinForms applications. While working with the toolset, I began to wonder what tools others use and thought it would make for a good discussion/post.

  • NetSparkle

    NetSparkle is a C# cross-platform software update framework for .NET developers compatible with .NET 4.6.2/.NET 6+, WinForms, WPF, and Avalonia; uses Ed25519 or DSA signatures! View basic usage here in the README or visit our website for code docs.

  • She also had a rather sour attitude we didn't care much for (example). We finally settled on NetSparkle as it allowed us to have complete control over the frontend implementation. The added pluses were not being forced to adopt SemVer behavior, improved digital signature signing and the ability to both sign the update and the manifest.

  • InfluxDB

    Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale. Get real-time insights from all types of time series data with InfluxDB. Ingest, query, and analyze billions of data points in real-time with unbounded cardinality.

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  • nUpdate

    A comfortable update solution for .NET-applications.

  • Squirrel

    An installation and update framework for Windows desktop apps

  • I've been happy with Squirrel.

  • winsparkle

    App update framework for Windows, inspired by Sparkle for macOS

  • Yeah they’ve been gaining a lot of momentum from the refactor. We were using WinSparkle for awhile but it still only supports DSA signatures and required maintaining some P/Invoke code.

  • WorkOS

    The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS. The APIs are flexible and easy-to-use, supporting authentication, user identity, and complex enterprise features like SSO and SCIM provisioning.

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NOTE: The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives. Hence, a higher number means a more popular project.

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