lika

Symlink installer. You can do symlinks in Windows without boilerplate cmd code.

The program was created with a focus on creating symlinks for VST plugins. But nevertheless it can be used for other things as well.

Short guide

1. Download program from releases
2. Create installer folder structure (optional)
3. Create and fill installer.json file
4. Place lika.exe to dir where installer.json placed
5. Use lika.exe to install/uninstall symlinks.

installer.json:

{
    "installerName": "", // optional
    "author": "", // optional
    "authorUrl": "", // optional

    "links": [
        {
            // path to source file/dir, optional (!)
            /* 
            (!) You can choose not to specify src, and only specify target if your installer structure is similar to the Windows directory structure.

            Example target: "<CommonProgramFiles>/VST3/lol.vst3"
            If no src is specified, then the path of your dirs should be like this (relative to the folder where lika.exe is located):
            "C/Program Files/Common Files/VST3/lol.vst3"
            I.e:
            - lika.exe
            - C
            -  Program Files
            -    Common Files
            -      etc

            Another example target: "<PublicDocuments>/lolDir"
            Expected: "C/Users/Public/Documents/lolDir"

            see https://github.com/oklookat/lika/blob/8fdaf8d2d22749e9d9fca1a68b380b9f8bc59d10/Utils.cs#L156
            */
            "src": "",
            // required, path to target, directories will be created if they do not exist
            // deleting links (while uninstall) will delete the specific link(s). Empty directories before it will not be deleted
            "target": "",
            // if true and src is dir, symlinks will be created not to the directory itself, but to all content in it (not recursively)
            "dirContents": false, // optional, default false
            // if dirContents enabled, skip dirs/files names
            "dirContentsExcept": [] // optional
        }
    ],

    // registry, optional
    "reg": {
        // use env vars in reg file?
        /* Vars example:
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\WOW6432Node\Test]
        "KeyWithVars"="<CommonProgramFiles86>\\Dir"
        */
        // use variables with caution, in case the registry value contains non-standard/bad paths, 
        // there may be unexpected results because of variables (I wrote a simple parser, so yeah)
        "installWithVars": false, // optional, default false

        // path to registry file that will be executed after installing
        // tip: if you using vars, rename .reg file to .regx or something like this
        // so you don't forget it's an unusual .reg file.
        "install": "", // optional

        "uninstallWithVars": false, // optional, default false
        "uninstall": "" // optional
    },

    // run process, optional
    "process": {
        // path to file that will be executed after installing (example: .cmd or .exe file)
        "install": "", // optional
        "uninstall": "" // optional
    }
}

installer.json example:

{
	"installerName": "Massive v1.5.11",
	"links": [
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles>/Native Instruments/Service Center/Massive.xml"
		},
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles>/Native Instruments/Service Center/NativeAccess.xml"
		},
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles>/VST3/Massive.vst3"
		},
		{
			"target": "<ProgramFiles>/Native Instruments/Massive"
		},
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles86>/Native Instruments/Kore 2/Database Cache/Massive.kdb"
		},
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles86>/Native Instruments/Massive"
		},
		{
			"target": "<CommonProgramFiles86>/Native Instruments/Shared Content/Sounds/Massive"
		},
		{
			"target": "<PublicDocuments>/NI Resources/image/Massive"
		}
	],
	"reg": {
		"installWithVars": true,
		"install": "<CWD>/REG/add.regx",
		"uninstall": "<CWD>/REG/remove.reg"
	}
}

Variables

• Current dir (relative to lika.exe): <CWD>
• System dir: <SystemDir>
• Current user documents: <UserDocuments>
• Public documents: <PublicDocuments>
• Program files: <ProgramFiles>
• Program files (x86): <ProgramFiles86>
• Common program files: <CommonProgramFiles>
• CommonProgramFiles86: <CommonProgramFiles86>
• Current user dir: <CurrentUser>

Requirements

• Windows 7 and above
• NET 6.0
• Good mood