Does the zip installer support multi-file programs?

[Xcodo]

I see that zip installer support has arrived (👏). I was looking at two applications today which only support a zip download, but which are not a single executable or a collection of single executables. Instead it is a collection of file (traditionally separated into bin and lib folders) which the executable depends upon. Is this scenario supported?

Here's one example - GHDL (installer ghdl-UCRT64.zip from v3.0.0.)

When extracted, the file tree is as below. Only GHDL\bin\ghdl.exe needs to be added to the PATH, but the other files are required for it to function correctly.

└───GHDL
    ├───bin
    │       ghdl.exe
    │       ghwdump.exe
    │
    ├───include
    │   └───ghdl
    │           libghw.h
    │           synth.h
    │           synth_gates.h
    │           vhpi_user.h
    │           vpi_user.h
    │
    └───lib
        │   libghdl-3_0_0.dll
        │   libghdl.a
        │   libghdl.link
        │   libghdlvpi.dll
        │   libghw.dll
        │
        └───ghdl
            │   ansi_color.sh
            │
            ├───ieee
            │   ├───v08
            │   │       ieee-obj08.cf
            │   │
            │   ├───v87
            │   │       ieee-obj87.cf
            │   │
            │   └───v93
            │           ieee-obj93.cf
            │
            ├───src
            │   ├───ieee
            │   │   │   math_complex-body.vhdl
            │   │   │   math_complex.vhdl
            │   │   │   math_real-body.vhdl
            │   │   │   math_real.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   ├───v87
            │   │   │       numeric_bit-body.vhdl
            │   │   │       numeric_bit.vhdl
            │   │   │       numeric_std-body.vhdl
            │   │   │       numeric_std.vhdl
            │   │   │       std_logic_1164-body.vhdl
            │   │   │       std_logic_1164.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   └───v93
            │   │           numeric_bit-body.vhdl
            │   │           numeric_bit.vhdl
            │   │           numeric_std-body.vhdl
            │   │           numeric_std.vhdl
            │   │           std_logic_1164-body.vhdl
            │   │           std_logic_1164.vhdl
            │   │
            │   ├───ieee2008
            │   │       fixed_float_types.vhdl
            │   │       fixed_generic_pkg-body.vhdl
            │   │       fixed_generic_pkg.vhdl
            │   │       fixed_pkg.vhdl
            │   │       float_generic_pkg-body.vhdl
            │   │       float_generic_pkg.vhdl
            │   │       float_pkg.vhdl
            │   │       ieee_bit_context.vhdl
            │   │       ieee_std_context.vhdl
            │   │       LICENSE
            │   │       math_complex-body.vhdl
            │   │       math_complex.vhdl
            │   │       math_real-body.vhdl
            │   │       math_real.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_bit-body.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_bit.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_bit_unsigned-body.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_bit_unsigned.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_std-body.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_std.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_std_unsigned-body.vhdl
            │   │       numeric_std_unsigned.vhdl
            │   │       std_logic_1164-body.vhdl
            │   │       std_logic_1164.vhdl
            │   │       std_logic_textio.vhdl
            │   │
            │   ├───std
            │   │   │   env-body.vhdl
            │   │   │   env.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   ├───v08
            │   │   │       standard.vhdl
            │   │   │       textio-body.vhdl
            │   │   │       textio.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   ├───v87
            │   │   │       standard.vhdl
            │   │   │       textio-body.vhdl
            │   │   │       textio.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   └───v93
            │   │           standard.vhdl
            │   │           textio-body.vhdl
            │   │           textio.vhdl
            │   │
            │   ├───synopsys
            │   │   │   std_logic_arith.vhdl
            │   │   │   std_logic_misc-body.vhdl
            │   │   │   std_logic_misc.vhdl
            │   │   │   std_logic_signed.vhdl
            │   │   │   std_logic_textio.vhdl
            │   │   │   std_logic_unsigned.vhdl
            │   │   │
            │   │   └───v08
            │   │           std_logic_misc-body.vhdl
            │   │           std_logic_misc.vhdl
            │   │
            │   ├───upf
            │   │       upf-body.vhdl
            │   │       upf.vhdl
            │   │
            │   ├───vital2000
            │   │       memory_b.vhdl
            │   │       memory_p.vhdl
            │   │       prmtvs_b.vhdl
            │   │       prmtvs_p.vhdl
            │   │       timing_b.vhdl
            │   │       timing_p.vhdl
            │   │
            │   └───vital95
            │           vital_primitives-body.vhdl
            │           vital_primitives.vhdl
            │           vital_timing-body.vhdl
            │           vital_timing.vhdl
            │
            ├───std
            │   ├───v08
            │   │       std-obj08.cf
            │   │
            │   ├───v87
            │   │       std-obj87.cf
            │   │
            │   └───v93
            │           std-obj93.cf
            │
            └───vendors
                    compile-altera.ps1
                    compile-altera.sh
                    compile-intel.ps1
                    compile-intel.sh
                    compile-lattice.ps1
                    compile-lattice.sh
                    compile-osvvm.ps1
                    compile-osvvm.sh
                    compile-uvvm.ps1
                    compile-uvvm.sh
                    compile-xilinx-ise.ps1
                    compile-xilinx-ise.sh
                    compile-xilinx-vivado.ps1
                    compile-xilinx-vivado.sh
                    config.psm1
                    config.sh
                    filter.analyze.sh
                    README.md
                    shared.psm1
                    shared.sh

[mdanish-kh]

When extracted, the file tree is as below. Only GHDL\bin\ghdl.exe needs to be added to the PATH, but the other files are required for it to function correctly.

Unfortunately, the current implementation of WinGet does not fully support the installation of such packages. Blocked by

• Handle DLLs for Symlinked executables #2711

---

For additional context: The issue lies in how WinGet manages ZIP packages, specifically for the installation of portable/loose .exe files that need to be added to the PATH variable.

I'll describe the scenarios I know of as a typical user as I haven't read how the actual code works for this

1. Installation from an admin shell / Developer mode turned ON

WinGet will have one directory in the PATH variable (that's usually %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links), have the ZIP extracted into another directory (usually %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages) and a symlink of the desired executable gets added in the Links directory. In this case the user doesn't need to restart the shell/terminal as the Links directory is already in PATH and can access the executable just after installing through WinGet. The problem here is that .dlls/other files the package needs can't be referenced when the package is being invoked through the symlink and thus the package won't work correctly.

2. Installation from a user shell and Developer mode turned OFF

In this case, WinGet cannot create a symlink and will resort to putting the entire path of the package in the PATH variable. You will need to restart the shell/terminal to reload the PATH variable after installation but a package such as one described above will work correctly and the files will be referenced properly. However, this approach will quickly use up the character limit of the PATH variable if you continue installing packages this way / already have other packages in PATH.

There are potential solutions discussed in the linked issue; but currently such packages (referred as "Zipped Binaries") are not being accepted into WinGet because of these limitations.

[Xcodo]

Pity, but thanks for the explanation. Looks like I won't be able to get my whole development environment in winget for a good while yet 😞.