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Home  /  Products  /  AppDeploy  /  AppDeploy Repackager FAQ

AppDeploySM Repackager - Frequently Asked Questions


What is Repackaging?

Repackaging is the conversion of a vendor-provided setup into a customized installation suitable for deployment in corporate environments. Today, Windows Installer is the preferred setup format for many reasons (including detailed customization support, rollback, logging and extensive command line support). When vendors do not provide a Windows Installer setup and one is desired, administrators must repackage the vendor-provided setup.

What is a Repackager?

A repackager is a tool used by Windows administrators to determine the changes made by a setup in order to generate a new, customized setup, normally in an alternate format. The most common way a repackager determines the intended changes of a setup is the before/after snapshot method. With this method, a scan of a computer is performed both before and after an installation is performed. The detected differences between these snapshots form the basis for the new [repackaged] setup.

What is the AppDeploy Repackager?

The AppDeploy Repackager is a freeware repackager which lets users perform a before/after snapshot to determine the contents needed to build a Windows Installer setup. It also makes use of a sharable project file which lets the AppDeploy community share their work to help others.

What is unique about the AppDeploy Repackager?

The AppDeploy Repackager the only free tool dedicated to repackaging. While competitive products like Wise Package Studio (Altiris), Admin Studio (Acresso, formerly Macrovision/InstallShield) and MSI Studio (ScriptLogic) provide a full GUI environment for authoring setups, the AppDeploy Repackager is focused on the simple task of repackaging. These other tools can be very expensive and complex—the very opposite of AppDeploy Repackager.

AppDeploy Repackager is the only tool that produces a sharable project file that can be leveraged by the community. All others include registry data that may contain personally identifiable information and even license information, which make sharing of work impossible.

Where can I learn more?

A session dedicated to the topic of the AppDeploy Repackager will be presented at the KACE User Konference in San Francisco: http://www.kace.com/2008userkonference/

The AppDeploy Repackager home is: http://www.appdeploy.com/tools/repackager