Initial MSI implementation, based on Briefcase #1084

mhsmith · 2025-10-09T13:51:32Z

Description

Initial work towards:

Requires Briefcase to be installed in the environment, including the following updates:

As discussed, this PR is sufficient to build a simple MSI installer (with no install-time options) from the miniconda3 recipe. After the Briefcase updates are merged, I'll post a comment here with instructions on how to do that.

@freakboy3742: FYI

Checklist - did you ...

Add a file to the news directory (using the template) for the next release's release notes?
Add / update necessary tests?
Add / update outdated documentation?

conda-bot · 2025-10-09T13:52:03Z

We require contributors to sign our Contributor License Agreement and we don't have one on file for @mhsmith.

In order for us to review and merge your code, please e-sign the Contributor License Agreement PDF. We then need to manually verify your signature, merge the PR (conda/infrastructure#1222), and ping the bot to refresh the PR.

travishathaway · 2025-10-09T15:12:29Z

@conda-bot check

jaimergp · 2025-10-13T09:14:39Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+    msi_paths = list(dist_dir.glob("*.msi"))
+    if len(msi_paths) != 1:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Found {len(msi_paths)} MSI files in {dist_dir}")
+    shutil.copy(msi_paths[0], info["_outpath"])


Should this be a move command instead? In heavy installers and reduced disk storage availability, it might be the difference between success and error.

jaimergp · 2025-10-13T09:15:42Z

constructor/data/construct.schema.json

      "enum": [
        "all",
        "exe",
+        "msi",


This change should be applied in _schema.py and then propagated.

jaimergp · 2025-10-13T09:16:19Z

tests/test_briefcase.py

We should also have an integration test in test_examples.py once the dependencies are ready.

I think most integration tests have installer_type: all, which will break if features are missing. I suggest replacing them with installer_type: {{ 'exe' if sys.platform == 'win32' else 'all' for those that fail because of missing features. That will also give us a good idea about when we have feature parity.

@mhsmith just for completeness, I've added (and working on finalizing it) the integration tests in test_examples.py in this branch: https://github.com/lrandersson/constructor/tree/briefcase
I branched from the branch that's in this PR.

mhsmith · 2025-10-29T16:29:24Z

Testing instructions

Check out the following repositories:

constructor, on this PR branch
https://github.com/beeware/briefcase, on the main branch
https://github.com/anaconda/installers, on the main branch

Run these commands:

conda env create -f constructor\dev\environment.yml
conda activate constructor-dev
pip install -e .\constructor .\briefcase
set INSTALLER_VERSION=25.9.0-99  # or any other build number
set PY_VER=3.13
set EXT=msi
constructor installers\products\miniconda3\recipe

The MSI will be generated in the working directory.

mhsmith · 2025-10-30T20:35:41Z

Remaining features required for production use

[Moved to #967]

marcoesters

My biggest change request is to get the dependencies right. Specifically, briefcase is missing from the list. I'm also a little concerned about how tightly this is bound to Python conventions.

marcoesters · 2025-11-12T23:35:47Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+    name = info["name"]
+    if not name:
+        raise ValueError("Name is empty")


Suggested change

name = info["name"]

if not name:

raise ValueError("Name is empty")

if not (name := info.get("name")):

raise ValueError("Name is empty")

If we are concerned about empty values, we should use get, too.

I fixed it in mhsmith#1

marcoesters · 2025-11-12T23:42:44Z

tests/test_briefcase.py

I think most integration tests have installer_type: all, which will break if features are missing. I suggest replacing them with installer_type: {{ 'exe' if sys.platform == 'win32' else 'all' for those that fail because of missing features. That will also give us a good idea about when we have feature parity.

marcoesters · 2025-11-12T23:46:43Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+    if not name:
+        raise ValueError("Name is empty")
+
+    # Briefcase requires version numbers to be in the canonical Python format, and some


Python is not fully compatible with SemVer, so that could be a pretty significant limitation.

It will at least require a few version changes in our integration test examples:

constructor/examples/scripts/construct.yaml

Line 5 in 170417a

version: X

Fixed temporarily in mhsmith#1

marcoesters · 2025-11-12T23:51:43Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+    strip_chars = " .-_"
+    before = info["version"][:start].strip(strip_chars)
+    after = info["version"][end:].strip(strip_chars)
+    name = " ".join(s for s in [name, before, after] if s)


So, for something like Miniconda3-py310_25.9.1-3-Windows-x86_64.msi, we have the following?

name = Miniconda3 py310 version = 25.9.1.3

marcoesters · 2025-11-13T00:09:50Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+# different versions of a product.
+def get_bundle_app_name(info, name):
+    # If reverse_domain_identifier is provided, use it as-is, but verify that the last
+    # component is a valid Python package name, as Briefcase requires.


Since constructor doesn't require Python-based packages, will we run into issues with non-Python namespaces?

marcoesters · 2025-11-13T21:33:49Z

constructor/briefcase.py

+    briefcase = Path(sysconfig.get_path("scripts")) / "briefcase.exe"
+    logger.info("Building installer")
+    run(
+        [briefcase, "package"] + (["-v"] if verbose else []),
+        cwd=tmp_dir,
+        check=True,
+    )


I have two questions here:

Is it possible to use briefcase as an API rather than a CLI?

This looks like Windows - do we need any guards here?

Either way, we should make sure that briefcase.exe exists before calling it.

I added 2) in mhsmith#1, the check for briefcase.exe is also there

marcoesters · 2025-11-13T21:34:34Z

constructor/briefcase/run_installation.bat

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+_conda constructor --prefix . --extract-conda-pkgs


Let's use absolute paths instead of relative paths.

marcoesters · 2025-11-13T21:40:31Z

pyproject.toml

    "jinja2",
-    "jsonschema >=4"
+    "jsonschema >=4",
+    "tomli-w >=1.2.0",


Since this is only needed for MSI installers, this should probably only be added for Windows - same in the recipe.

This is also missing briefcase as a dependency.

In mhsmith#1

Initial prototype as shown in demo

c6c4134

conda-bot mentioned this pull request Oct 9, 2025

Adding CLA signee mhsmith conda/infrastructure#1222

Merged

conda-bot added this to 🔎 Review Oct 9, 2025

github-project-automation bot moved this to 🆕 New in 🔎 Review Oct 9, 2025

conda-bot added the cla-signed [bot] added once the contributor has signed the CLA label Oct 9, 2025

jaimergp reviewed Oct 13, 2025

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'main' into briefcase

f719293

marcoesters changed the base branch from main to briefcase-integration October 14, 2025 15:01

mhsmith added 3 commits October 29, 2025 15:36

Switch to install_launcher option

201a3ed

Update schema properly

a12eb59

Move MSI file rather than copying it

52b3d34

mhsmith mentioned this pull request Oct 30, 2025

Use Briefcase as an installer backend #967

Open

2 tasks

This was referenced Nov 6, 2025

MSI: Registry entries not removed during uninstall beeware/briefcase#2554

Open

MSI: Add proper uninstallation #1102

Open

MSI: Add a UI dialog with additional installation options #1103

Open

mhsmith marked this pull request as ready for review November 12, 2025 07:57

mhsmith requested a review from a team as a code owner November 12, 2025 07:57

marcoesters requested changes Nov 13, 2025

View reviewed changes

github-project-automation bot moved this from 🆕 New to 🏗️ In Progress in 🔎 Review Nov 13, 2025

lrandersson mentioned this pull request Nov 14, 2025

Initial set of MSI integration tests mhsmith/constructor#1

Open

3 tasks

		@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
		_conda constructor --prefix . --extract-conda-pkgs

Initial MSI implementation, based on Briefcase #1084

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Initial MSI implementation, based on Briefcase #1084

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Description

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mhsmith commented Oct 29, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Testing instructions

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Remaining features required for production use

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mhsmith commented Oct 9, 2025 •

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