Building MSI for AppX (microsoft installer)

[ben-xD]

I noticed that msilib is deprecated in Python 3.11, since microsoft is moving to Appx:

Deprecated since version 3.11, will be removed in version 3.13: The msilib module is deprecated (see PEP 594 for details). source

Microsoft is slowly moving away from MSI in favor of Windows 10 Apps (AppX) as a new deployment model source

Did you have any thoughts if cx_Freeze should follow those changes?

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Thanks for this project! It's been interesting to use it so far.

[marcelotduarte]

Not yet. But the options for msilib are:

1. Port to an independent package;
2. Port as internal package of cx_Freeze (like I did with bdist_msi).
3. Disable it for 3.13

Independently of the above options, a bdist_appx should be analyzed.

[daniilS]

@marcelotduarte with 3.13 expected to come out next month, I was wondering if any one of the options was settled on? I use cx_Freeze to distribute .msi installers, so would like to know if it will still be possible with Python 3.13, or if I should start looking for another tool to convert the frozen .exe and resources into an installer.

[marcelotduarte]

@daniilS I hope to release a version at the end of the month with support for Python 3.13, but for now it will be with bdist_msi disabled (3). But I will open an issue to see what support I will have to implement a new msilib (1) package, which I see will be feasible from a technical point of view.