---
name: "makensis"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nsis"
version: "3.11-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/makensis"
---

# makensis(1)

A program to create Windows installers.

## NAME

makensis - A program to create Windows installers.

## SYNOPSIS

**makensis** \[*script.nsi*\] \[**-CMDHELP** *item*\] \[**-HDRINFO**\] \[**-LICENSE**\] \[**-VERSION**\] \[**-V***x*\] \[**-WX**\] \[**-O***file*\] \[**-PAUSE**\] \[**-NOCONFIG**\] \[**-NOCD**\] \[**-INPUTCHARSET** *charset*\] \[**-PPO**\] \[**-SAFEPPO**\] \[**-D***define***=***value*\] \[**-X***scriptcmd*\]

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **makensis** command.

This manual page was written for the Debian (TM) distribution because the original program does not have a manual page. Instead, it has documentation in the HTML format; see below.

**makensis** is a program that creates installer programs for Windows.

## OPTIONS

Parameters are processed by order (-Ddef ins.nsi != ins.nsi -Ddef) for script file name, you can use - to read from the standard input. For a complete description, see the HTML files.

- **-V***x*

  Verbosity where x is 4=all, 3=no script, 2=no info, 1=no warnings, 0=none.

- **-WX**

  Treat warnings as errors

- **-O***file*

  Specifies a text file to log compiler output (default is stdout).

- **-PAUSE**

  Pauses after execution.

- **-NOCONFIG**

  Disables inclusion of /etc/nsisconf.nsh.

- **-NOCD**

  Disable changing the current directory to that of the .nsi file.

- **-INPUTCHARSET** *charset*

  Specifies a specific codepage for files without a BOM. The following choice of charsets is supported: \<ACP\|OEM\|CP#\|UTF8\|UTF16\<LE\|BE\>\>

- **-PPO**

  Run only the preprocessor and print the result to stdout.

- **-SAFEPPO**

  Same as -PPO but instructions like !appendfile or !system are not executed.

- **-D***define***=***value*

  Defines the symbol "define" for the script to \[value\].

- **-X***scriptcmd*

  Executes scriptcmd in the script (i.e. "-XOutFile poop.exe")

- **-CMDHELP** *item*

  Prints out help for 'item', or lists all commands.

- **-HDRINFO**

  Prints information about what options makensis was compiled with.

- **-LICENSE**

  Prints the makensis software license.

- **-VERSION**

  Prints the makensis version and exits.

## FILES

/etc/nsisconf.nsh

System wide configuration file.

\~/.nsisconf.nsh

Per-user configuration file.

## SEE ALSO

NSIS is documented more fully in the HTML files in /usr/share/doc/nsis/Docs.

## AUTHORS

**Paul Wise** \<pabs@debian.org\>

This manual page was written initially by Paul Wise \<pabs@debian.org\> for the Debian (TM) system.

**Thomas Gaugler**

updated the man page to reflect changes introduced with version 3.0.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2005-2016 Paul Wise, Thomas Gaugler\