Automated Build of the gpg4win installer

At the moment, you can best build Gpg4win on a Debian system using the list of build dependency packages. You have to setup a system, install those dependencies and follow the instructions. To simplify the process and give all users the possibility to compile a gpg4win Installer on their own, we want to provide an automated solution that simplifies the process for all stakeholders. It will be easier for the developers, because they don't have to maintain a list of system dependencies, they just have to add them to a script, they use by themselves. And it will be easier for the users, because they don't have to care about technical details that aren't important for the process or the product itself.

Evaluating possibilities

Docker

There is a Dockerfile that automatically creates an installer, you can find it on BitBucket. The Problem with Docker itself is, that we can't trust the origin of the base images that are used to create the containers. We could create our own base images, but that again would require a lot of webspace and we have to additionally maintain a base image.

Vagrant

Vagrant works very similar to Docker. But Vagrant uses other virtualization providers to create an Image, so the user needs Vagrant on the one side and a vivirtuli Provider (like Virtualbox) on the other side. Like with Docker, you pull an Image from a server, but different than Docker, you can check where the image is coming from and where it is hosted. Also, the Images in the Vagrant System are directly maintained by a Debian Team. So the trust in that image is bigger. Of course, you can also create your own box image. But there again would be cause to use additional webspace and we need to maintain that separate box.

Self-Scripted (w. Vagrant and Virtualbox)

Of course we can create a Box by our own. We "just" need to create a full Image based on an available iso, export it on the local Machine as a "box" file and use it further on as base image.