How it works

The process of creating an installer from your ${maven.nsis.build.dir} using the plugin is as follows:

1. You, the user invoke the nsis, or nsis:installer goal.
2. This calls the nsis:generate-project goal, which creates a file, ${maven.build.dir}/project.nsh. This file contains details from your project.xml file as constants so they are available for during the NSIS compilation step. The file is generated from a jelly template specified by the ${maven.nsis.project.template} variable. See the properties documentation for more information on the defaults for this variable.
3. Next the nsis:generate-setup goal is called, which creates a file, ${maven.build.dir}/setup.nsi. This file is later the file passed to the NSIS executable compiler, makensis.exe. This file is generated from a jelly template specified by the ${maven.nsis.setup.template} variable. See the properties documentation for more information on the defaults for this variable.
4. Lastly, makensis.exe is called to compile to generated setup.nsi file.