Produce .msi instead of .exe (fixes DEV-135)

.github/workflows/build-exe.yml

@@ -24,22 +24,28 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
           pip install .
           pip install "pyinstaller>=6.14,<7"
+          dotnet tool install --global wix --version 6.0.0
 
       - name: Build EXE
         run: |
-          pyinstaller --onefile --paths=. --name=loggertodb-${{ github.ref_name }} bin/loggertodb-windows
+          pyinstaller --paths=. --name=loggertodb bin/loggertodb-windows
+
+      - name: Build MSI
+        run: |
+          cd installer
+          dotnet build -c Release -p:ProductVersion=${{ github.ref_name }}
 
       - name: Upload artifact
         if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
-          name: windows-exe
-          path: dist/loggertodb-${{ github.ref_name }}.exe
+          name: windows-msi
+          path: installer/bin/Release/loggertodb-${{ github.ref_name }}.msi
 
       - name: Upload to release
         if: github.event_name == 'release'
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         with:
-          files: dist/loggertodb-${{ github.ref_name }}.exe
+          files: installer/bin/Release/loggertodb-${{ github.ref_name }}.msi

.gitignore

@@ -102,4 +102,8 @@ ENV/
 .mypy_cache/
 
 # setuptools-scm
-_version.py
+_version.py
+
+# wix
+installer/bin
+installer/obj

bin/loggertodb-windows

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 Normally we shouldn't need this script. "pip install loggertodb"
 installs a "loggertodb" script which has been created because of
 pyproject.toml's [project.scripts]. However, pyinstaller, which we use
-to create a single-file loggertodb.exe on windows, does not support
+to create loggertodb.exe on windows, does not support
 "project.scripts", so we add this script which is more or less identical
 to the one created by setuptools.
 

docs/installation.rst

@@ -9,11 +9,12 @@ Installation
 Windows
 =======
 
-``loggertodb`` is just a single executable, ``loggertodb.exe``. You
-download it and run it; there's no installer.
-
-Download ``loggertodb.exe`` from
-https://github.com/openmeteo/loggertodb/releases/.
+Download ``loggertodb.msi`` from
+https://github.com/openmeteo/loggertodb/releases/ and run it to install.
+The installation directory is not added to the Windows path. You need to
+add it yourself or run loggertodb from
+``C:\Program Files\Loggertodb\loggertodb.exe`` or whichever is the
+installation directory.
 
 Linux
 =====

docs/release-notes.rst

@@ -2,10 +2,15 @@
 Release notes
 =============
 
-DEV
-===
+Version 4.3 (2025-12-17)
+========================
 
-Added the ``--insert-all`` command line argument.
+* Added the ``--insert-all`` command line argument.
+* Windows builds now produce an MSI file that installs by default in
+  ``C:\Program Files\Loggertodb``, rather than an EXE file that was
+  unzipping itself each time it was running (which resulted in lots of
+  disk space being wasted if these temporary files were somehow left
+  over).
 
 Version 4.2 (2025-08-23)
 ========================

installer/Package.wxs

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+<Wix
+    xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
+    xmlns:ui="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/ui">
+
+  <Package Id="Loggertodb" Name="Loggertodb" Manufacturer="IRMASYS" Version="$(ProductVersion)">
+    <MediaTemplate EmbedCab="yes" />
+    <StandardDirectory Id="ProgramFiles6432Folder">
+      <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="Loggertodb" />
+    </StandardDirectory>
+    <Files Include="../dist/loggertodb/**" />
+    <Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLFOLDER" />
+    <ui:WixUI Id="WixUI_InstallDir" />
+    <WixVariable Id="WixUILicenseRtf" Value="license.rtf" />
+  </Package>
+
+</Wix>

installer/loggertodb.wixproj

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<Project Sdk="WixToolset.Sdk/6.0.0">
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <InstallerPlatform>x64</InstallerPlatform>
+    <DefineConstants>ProductVersion=$(ProductVersion)</DefineConstants>
+    <OutputName>loggertodb-$(ProductVersion)</OutputName>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageReference Include="WixToolset.UI.wixext" Version="6.0.0" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+</Project>

pyproject.toml

@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 requires = ["setuptools>=61.0", "setuptools-scm>=7.1"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+exclude = ["installer"]
+
 [project]
 dynamic = ["version"]
 name = "loggertodb"