MAKEMSI can build or modify Windows Installer databases such as MSI files, merge modules or transforms using XML like scripts.

The aim of this utility is that an MSI, merge module or ICE validations etc can be manipulated or created (by both beginner and advanced users) with a small number of specifications (and usually without writing code). Any "common" manipulation can be setup once and reused for all your MSI files. All files are in text format so they are easy to read and compare, you could easily create an MSI with a "hand full" of commands. A HTML report is created when creating an MSI (installed state of files can be verified from this report).

The process is reliable and repeatable. For example I have built hundreds of versions of the MAKEMSI installer and only do any minimal (or even no) testing of the installer unless I have changed functionality.

A MSI "disassembler" is available to display or compare Windows Installer databases (MSI, MST, MSM etc) in a human or MAKEMSI readable format. MAKEMSI also includes many tools such as GUID and MD5 generation, registry importing, MSI import and exporting etc.

You can edit and build via explorer or the command line. As the MSI creation is automated it can be part of ANT/NANT/NMAKE build scripts etc and is frequently used to automate tasks you might currently be manually doing with orca.