Manually Pack and Unpack Packages

[allen_h]

This document is part of the NI Package Management Portal.

Manually Pack and Unpack Packages

Pack a package

The following instructions explain how to create a package by "packing" a directory structure which defines the package's attributes, installation files, and additional instructions.  If the existing package building utilities (e.g. LabVIEW Package build specification, NI Package Builder, etc) do not meet your package building needs (e.g. need post-uninstall EXE, define a custom Category, ...), then you can try to addressing your needs by "packing" a package instead.

1. First, assemble the directory structure and files for a File Package.  To do this, you will need to:
   1. Create a control file. This file defines the package attributes and dependencies.
   2. Define where the package will put your files on the target computer.
   3. Create an instructions XML file for File packages if you want your package to do one of the following:
      • Create shortcut
      • Run a pre-install, post-install, postall-install, pre-uninstall, post-uninstall, and/or postall-uninstall .exe or .bat
        (e.g. <customExecute step="install" schedule="post" root="ProgramData" exeName="executable.exe"/>)
2. Build a package from the assembled directory using the the Command Line Interface.

Note: If you want to build a package that installs a 3rd party (non-NI) installer, manually pack the package using the instructions on this page instead.

Unpack a package

If you want to take an existing NIPM package (.nipkg) and unpack it into a directory structure, use the NIPM Command Line Interface and use the following command:
nipkg unpack PACKAGE-PATH [DESTINATION-DIR]