About the Symbian OS Installation System

The Symbian OS Installation System provides a simple and consistent user interface for installing applications, data, or configuration information to Symbian OS devices. End users install components packaged in Symbian OS Installation (sis) files either from a PC using connectivity software, or from an Symbian OS phone using an on-board installation program.

Two tools are provided to enable developers to create installation files:

• The Installation File Generator creates the installation files from a specification provided in a package file.

• The Certificate Generator creates private/public key pairs, which are used by the Installation File Generator to digitally sign installation files.

The Sisar GUI tool provides a simple way to create .sis files: for details see the Sisar Guide. It is possible though to write the required .pkg files by hand, and compile them using command-line tools, and this section contains the information to do so.