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View Full Version : necessity of installation



ged25
April 16th, 2011, 04:45 PM
I was wondering what are the actual reasons for software to be installed as opposed to it running as a single executable. I have a feeling that a majority of programs out there don't need to be installed and can be made to run as a single executable.
Thoughts ?

Enigmapond
April 16th, 2011, 04:49 PM
Sure they can but they won't integrate with your system. The installation process does that and just creates the necessary links and also installs any dependencies that need to be run as well in order for the programme to work well. (However, I'm certain someone will come up with a more technical view,,)

Cheers!

jerenept
April 16th, 2011, 04:55 PM
Some programs are really too big to fit on a single executable. Take Firefox for instance. If Firefox was one file, it would be one 50 MB file, and all the thousands of lines of source code would be jumbled up together. However, when they are separated, they are more "bite sized" and easier to patch and debug.

Lucradia
April 16th, 2011, 05:05 PM
Sure they can but they won't integrate with your system. The installation process does that and just creates the necessary links and also installs any dependencies that need to be run as well in order for the programme to work well. (However, I'm certain someone will come up with a more technical view,,)

Cheers!

You can also make windows apps to write to another registry system, a la portable apps.