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CreatePackagesQuickStart.md

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Creating Chocolatey Packages - TL;DR version

Here's a TL;DR quick start version of the package creating tutorial. Follow these steps to create a simple package.

Problem? Read the detailed version: [[Creating Chocolatey Packages|CreatePackages]]

Prerequisites

  • You have Chocolatey installed.
  • You've read [[What are Chocolatey Packages?|GettingStarted#what-are-chocolatey-packages]] first.
  • You know how a package works
    • A package contains a nuspec file. This defines the package. ([[Docs|CreatePackages#nuspec]])
    • A package may contain embedded software.
    • A package may contain an installation script. This can be [[very simple|CreatePackagesQuickStart#examples]].

Quick start guide

  • Generate new package:
    • choco new -h will get you started seeing options available to you.
    • Once you figured out all of your options, you should move forward with generating your template.
  • Edit template using common sense
    • cd package-name
    • Edit the package-name.nuspec configuration file.
    • Edit the ./tools/chocolateyInstall.ps1 install script.
    • You must save your files with UTF-8 character encoding without BOM. (Details)
  • Build the package
    • Still in package directory
    • choco pack
      • "Successfully created package-name.1.1.0.nupkg"
  • Test the package
    • Testing should probably be done on a Virtual Machine
    • In your package directory, use:
      • choco install package-name -s . (package-name is the id element in the nuspec)
  • Push the package to the Chocolatey community package repository:
    • Get a Chocolatey account:
    • Copy the API key from your Chocolatey account.
    • choco apikey -k [API_KEY_HERE] -source https://push.chocolatey.org/
    • choco push package-name.1.1.0.nupkg -s https://push.chocolatey.org/ - nupkg file can be ommitted if it is the only one in the directory.

Common Mistakes

  • NuSpec
    • id is the package name and should meet the following criteria:
    • should contain no spaces and weird characters.
    • should be lowercase.
    • should separate spaces in the software name with - e.g. classic-shell. Yes, we realize there are a lot of older packages not following this convention.
    • version is a dot-separated identifier containing a maximum of 4 numbers. e.g. 1.0 or 2.4.0.16 - except for prerelease packages

Environmental Variables

  • %ChocolateyInstall% - Chocolatey installation directory
  • %ChocolateyInstall%\lib\package-name - Package directory
  • %cd% or $pwd - current directory
  • Environment variable reference available in the README when using choco new or [[online|HelpersReference#variables]].

Examples

Here are some simple examples. NOTE: This needs updated with checksums and newer package concepts. Please run choco new when creating packages as it contains all of the most up to date notes.

chocolateyInstall.ps1 for .exe installer

$name = 'Package Name'
$installerType = 'exe'
$url  = 'http://path/to/download/installer.exe'
$silentArgs = '/VERYSILENT'

Install-ChocolateyPackage $name $installerType $silentArgs $url

NOTE: You have to figure out the command line switch to make the installer silent, e.g. /VERYSILENT. This changes from installer to installer.

chocolateyInstall.ps1 for .msi installer

NOTE: Please maintain compatibility with Posh v2. Not every OS we support is on Posh v2 (nor comes OOB with Posh v3+). It's best to work with the widest compatibility of systems out there.

$packageName = 'Package Name'
$installerType = 'msi'
$url = 'http://path/to/download/installer_x86.msi'
$url64 = 'http://path/to/download/installer_x64.msi'
$silentArgs = '/quiet'
$validExitCodes = @(0,3010)

Install-ChocolateyPackage $packageName $installerType $silentArgs $url $url64  -validExitCodes $validExitCodes

Parsing Package Parameters

For a complete example of how you can use the PackageParameters argument of the choco install command, see this [[How-To|How-To-Parse-PackageParameters-Argument]].

Tips