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Windows portable executables

electron_portable packages a Windows electron_app with the same declared execution NSIS/7zip tools used by electron_nsis. Assembly and compilation run on BB Linux. The launcher requests user execution and checks the native payload architecture before extracting.

load("@rules_electron//electron:portable.bzl", "electron_portable")

electron_portable(
    name = "portable",
    app = ":app",
    tool = ":nsis_tool",
    verify_reproducible = True,
)

Each launch gets a unique temporary app directory. Arguments come from the raw Windows command line, including /D= arguments that NSIS otherwise consumes. Command lines exceeding the declared compiler's string capacity fail before extraction. The launcher waits for the app, preserves its exit status and retries owned extraction cleanup for up to 30 seconds. It creates no installation registry entries, uninstaller or shortcuts. Cleanup removes directory junctions without traversing their targets. Extraction lives outside NSIS's plugin tree, so NSIS's automatic recursive cleanup never owns app-created files. Symlinks and unsafe/colliding Windows names fail during packaging; tracked empty directories are preserved.

The child receives the electron-builder portable variables: PORTABLE_EXECUTABLE_DIR, PORTABLE_EXECUTABLE_FILE and PORTABLE_EXECUTABLE_APP_FILENAME. The first two follow the launcher's current location/name. app_filename overrides the third; its default is the payload executable stem. icon accepts a declared ICO. Standard NSIS compression options and the portable script output group are available. Reproducibility checks relocate app/icon inputs and compare both executable and script bytes.

Portable executables are not NSIS updater installers. Direct portable targets are rejected by electron_update_feed; installed NSIS update contracts remain separate. Publishing/signing a portable file uses the ordinary final-artifact release interfaces.

The 3e1f348 BB suite and cross-build passed. All four native hosts passed, testing those artifacts. Windows x64/ARM64 each launched both compiler variants from renamed Unicode paths, exercising real renderer/native addons, exact argument/environment forwarding, exit status 42 and concurrent extraction. Cleanup removed owned files and roots while preserving an external junction target. Application registrations and parent environment stayed unchanged.