electron-builder: Macro "arch" does not work in artifactName for NSIS

Version: 21.2.0
Target: Windows (NSIS)

I am using the command electron-builder --ia32 on Windows 10 to create a 32 bit installer for my app. The name of the produced .exe file ends up as Blockbench_3.0.0.exe, where the arch part is stripped from the name.

This is the defined artifactName: "${productName}_${arch}_${version}.${ext}" Here is the relevant build section in my package.json: https://github.com/JannisX11/blockbench/blob/master/package.json#L62-L65

Note that this is an installer specifically for 32-bit Windows. It is not a combined installer. Using a combined installer would double the file size and the download time of the installer.

Related: #3574

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 5 years ago
Reactions: 5
Comments: 21 (2 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

I have the same problem!

${arch} does not take effect in artifactName.

e.g conf: artifactName: "${productName}-${version}-${os}-${arch}.${ext}" output: appname-0.0.1-win.exe

zshuaia on Sep 16, 2020

@gknapp it seems they’re all combined. It’s basically assuming that you always want a universal electron installer

I found these differences. Both build a specific arch during the normal build loop. AppxTarget: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/packages/app-builder-lib/src/targets/AppxTarget.ts#L37-L45 MsiTarget: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/packages/app-builder-lib/src/targets/MsiTarget.ts#L43-L51

NsisTarget, on the other hand, queues all architectures and then packages all archs in a single finishBuild task https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/packages/app-builder-lib/src/targets/nsis/NsisTarget.ts#L64-L66

This is the specific line causing the macro to be ignored: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/packages/app-builder-lib/src/targets/nsis/NsisTarget.ts#L130

In order to not break backward compatibility, it seems we’d have to add additional packaging steps for bundling both arch-specific builds and it’s current universal installer. It’s a shame that nsis can’t use Arch.universal flag instead. Any other suggestions?

–

Btw, if anyone wants to take a stab at this, here is how to set up a local dev env: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#to-setup-a-local-dev-environment

mmaietta on Feb 18, 2021