msibuild(1)

📦 version 0.106, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 msibuild — bestie's guide to the manual page 💖

okay so you found msibuild(1) in the General Commands Manual and you're like "what even is this" — don't worry, I got you. sit down, hydrate, let's go 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

msibuild — build Windows Installer packages 🏗️💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

msibuild <MSI file> [<option> [<option> ...]]

like… you give it an MSI file and then as many options as your little heart desires. that's it. that's the vibe. 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so msibuild builds Windows Installer packages, aka .MSI files. iconic behavior honestly.

here's the tea tho ☕ — and this part is important, don't skip it:

  • Existing tables and streams in the package are overwritten. not merged, not politely asked, just gone. so like… back up first bestie 😭
  • If the package doesn't exist, a new one gets created with an empty database. fresh start, main character energy ✨

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • -s <name> [<author>] [<template>] [<UUID>] — sets the summary information. you can pass just <name>, or keep stacking <author>, <template> and <UUID> on top. give it the whole glow-up 🎀
  • -q <query> — runs one or more SQL queries. yes plural, go wild, execute them queries 👑
  • -i <table>.idt — imports the given table into the database. that .idt file? straight into the DB. slay 🧚
  • -a <stream> <file> — adds <stream> to storage, with the contents of <file> as its payload. stream goes in, file gets poured in 🌈

👑 AUTHORS 👑

credit where credit is due, periodt:

msibuild was written by Marc-André Lureau for Red Hat, Inc., based on the MSI build tool in Wine. 🍷

This manual page was adapted from the program usage information by Stephen Kitt <skitt@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others — yes, that means you 🫵). It was last modified for msibuild version 0.93.

lowkey a warning but also just facts: the overwriting thing from DESCRIPTION is real and it will not warn you. msibuild does not do vibe checks on your existing data. 💀

that's the whole page bestie, no cap. this came to you from msitools, dated December 21, 2014 — yes it's old, and yes it still ate. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from