The problem now is that we have only one or two developers supporting windows. So its hard enough to keep up with bug fixes and testing and producing the regular installer.
It seems that we have quite a few windows users, but none of them are interested in helping. So nothing gets done.
Just install it. Zip the folder. Delete the installation, expand the zipped folder where you want it - and create a matching *.bat.
No idea how it is under windows, but under Linux, parts of darktable itself are spread over several directories:
/usr/bin/usr/lib64/darktable/usr/share/darktableAnd then there are the dependencies, (libraries like lensfun, with their proper data), and possibly expected user data under /home/<user>. Blender was given as an example.
But blender has surprisingly few depencies, and those are mostly system libraries present on any (linux) system. darktable has many more dependencies. On the flip side, the blender executable is about 10× larger than darktable (including its specific libraries)
Of course it might be possilble to create a zip with all that’s needed. But it’s not just “zip the folder”, nor “unzip where you want”.
OK. Now I understand that it is not easy to do it as a portable zipped folder. I will have to try RawTherapee and others.
Installing files all over the systems makes it more cluttered and harder to clean by uninstallers. Registry files in Windows only grow by each installed program and is never compressed back by uninstalling them. This is why I prefer the programs that do work by unpacking a zip file.
I am not a programmer so cannot help other then suggesting.
If I could, I would do it so that it gets unpacked from zip archive and then for some features provide separate links to install each and all of the dependencies that are needed.
It is also true that Inkscape and Krita have some similar files in their folders so maybe putting them in the system would make them available to all programs and get the new programs smaller. Yet they can be unpacked, even from the installer file, and use as they are. Darktable installer cannot be unpacked.
Anyway, thank you all for your information.
i know requesting admin rights can be a pain, but why not simply ask an admin to install it for you? if it’s part of your job and you want to use it for that then ask your manager to make it happen
Oh sorry. My method only applies to Windows, I have no idea about Linux.