How to add a whole directory or project output to WiX package

For WiX 2.0, tallow is very limited; paraffin and mallow offer additional functionality. For WiX 3.0, heat offers the same functionnality as tallow, a little bit better.

In my case I've used mallow source and modified a bit and used it, because paraffin needs 3.5 version of .Net.

You can use Mallow

or Paraffin tool to generate WiX fragments: Getting started, The pain of WiX, A better tallow, Paraffin, Download, Paraffin for WiX 3.0

I've been using heat.exe in WIX 3.5 just for that purpose. Last time I checked though, the documentation wasn't up-to-date with 3.5 release so keep that in mind.

Here is an example:

"$(WIX)bin\heat.exe" dir "$(SourcePath)" -cg MyFiles -gg -scom -sreg -sfrag -dr INSTALLDIR -out "$(ProjectDir)Fragments\FileFragment.wxs" -var wix.InstallerPath

The MapGuide Open Source project is currently using John Robbins' Paraffin 3.0 as others have pointed to.

Basically, the first time through for a given release version, we'll run our installer script with a "generate" action that creates new .wxs files for source folder with specific options for each one.

On subsequent builds of the same version, the "regen" action is called to ensure that the .wxs files are updated with any new files/directories that have been added.

I believe that Heat v3 also now allows you to do a lot (or maybe all?) of this, as Brian Rogers writes . I still feel more comfortable with the way that Paraffin does this more explicitly by maintaining static GUIDs, but the current Heat looks like a good option.

After further research, it seems there is an included binary called tallow.exe that does just that. It creates a fragment from a directory by recursively searching for files.