MSI portability

Hi all,

The MSI file format has the advantage of being a standardized format for containing all the information associated with installing applications.

If an MSI file only contains instructions to copy files to an install directory, it is portable. If it contains instructions to e.g. change the registry, it's not. Other rules apply too, of course.

I don't know enough about the MSI format myself, but it seems it'd be not so difficult to make a utility which can determine if an MSI file is inherently portable. A utility with a bit more intelligence run 'portable' MSI files with a bit more intelligence, for instance, instead of putting a shortcut on the Start menu, put it on the PortableApps menu.

Has anyone investigated along these lines already? Is there interest in pursuing this avenue? The first (simplest) implementation would simply be to check if the MSI is portable, successive releases could add sophistication and functionality for nearly-portable MSIs.