About Directive Files

Paquet Builder introduces a specific file type called “directive file”, using the .pbd extension.
These text-based files contain instructions for Paquet Builder to create or modify a package/installer.

• Automate Package Creation — Useful for external applications needing to generate packages dynamically.
• Modify Existing Projects — Enables automated transformations of existing projects.
• Shell Extension Support — The Paquet Builder shell extension works with directive files.

Recommended Format: Save directive files in UTF-8 (with or without BOM).

Learn More: How to Open and Execute Directives.

Directive files follow a format similar to Windows INI configuration files.

; Paquet Builder Directive File
; Version 1.1

[DirectiveVariables]
MYVERSION=1.0

[General]
Title=My archive {$MYVERSION$}
ProjectTemplate=C:\MyWork\MyProject\baseproj.pbpx
OutputDir=C:\MyWork\MyProject\output
OutputName=MyArchive.exe
Company=G.D.G. Software
EXEType=0  ; 32-bit package (0=32-bit, 1=64-bit, 2=ARM64)
IsWizard=1
StorePaths=1
Folder=C:\MyWork\Source\
SubFolders=1
Icon=C:\MyWork\MyProject\media6.ico

[Source]
0=C:\MyWork\MyProject\Source\*.*
1={$PBDIRECTPATH$}\Data Source Files\*.xml

• [General] — Configures the package settings (always required).
• [Source] — Lists files to include (unless NoSourceSection=1 is set).

This section defines the package configuration.

• Parameters can be specified in any order.
• Boolean values: Use 1 (true) or 0 (false).

This section lists files to be included in the package.

• Supports wildcards (e.g., *.exe, *.xml).
• Allows absolute or relative paths using directive variables.

[Source]
0=C:\MyWork\Project\Source\*.*
1=C:\MyWork\Project\Readme.txt
2=C:\Windows\System\cabinet.dll
3={$PBDIRECTPATH$}\Data\*.xml

Use directive variables like {$PBDIRECTPATH$} to avoid hardcoded paths.

Defines optional components that users can select during installation.

[Components]
0=Documentation
1=Pictures

[Documentation.Source]
0=C:\Project\Help\*.chm

[Documentation.Properties]
Description=Application Documentation
Title=Documentation
StoringPath=1

[Pictures.Source]
0=C:\Project\Media\*.png
1=C:\Project\Media\*.jpg

[Pictures.Properties]
Title=Pictures
Description=Sample pictures
Required=0
InstallDef=1
SourceLinked=1
SourceFolder=C:\Project\Media
IncSubFolders=1

• Each component requires a [ComponentName.Source] and [ComponentName.Properties] section.
• The Main component always exists and is defined in [Main.Properties].

Learn more: Component Management.

Directive variables allow dynamic path replacement in directive files.

[Source]
0={$PBDIRECTPATH$}\Source Files\*.*
1={$PBDIRECTPATH$}\Docs\*.pdf

This way, you can move the directive file without breaking file paths.

This section allows you to load HTML content into the installer’s screens (Welcome, License Agreement, Readme, Final screen).

[Templates]
Welcome=C:\MyProject\screens\welcome.html
LicAg=C:\MyProject\screens\license.html
StartReadme=C:\MyProject\screens\readme_start.html
EndReadme=C:\MyProject\screens\readme_end.html
End=C:\MyProject\screens\final.html

• Values can be absolute paths or relative filenames (looked up in the Templates\ folder next to PBuilder.exe).
• Files can be HTML or legacy RTF (automatically converted to HTML).
• Template variables like [ARCHIVETITLE], [COMPANYNAME], [COMPANYEMAIL], [HOMEPAGE], [COPYRIGHT], [DESCRIPTION], [PRODNUM], [FILENUM] are replaced with project values.

This section allows multiple digital signatures to be applied sequentially. Only used when SignCertifLocation is set to 3.

Example:

[SignToolCmd]
0=sign /fd SHA256 /tr "http://timestamp.digicert.com" /td SHA256 "{$PBOUTPUTFILE$}"
1=sign /fd SHA1 /tr "http://timestamp.digicert.com" /td SHA1 "{$PBOUTPUTFILE$}"

• Each line represents one signing command.
• Commands are executed in order (e.g., first SHA-256, then SHA-1).

This section defines JSign signing commands when SignCertifLocation is set to 5.

JSign is a free, open-source Java-based code signing tool supporting PFX/PKCS#12, hardware tokens (ETOKEN, YUBIKEY), Azure Key Vault, AWS KMS, Google Cloud KMS, and more.

Example:

[JSignCmd]
0=sign --keystore "certificate.p12" --storepass "mypass" --tsaurl http://timestamp.sectigo.com --tsmode RFC3161 --digest-algorithm SHA-256 "{$PBOUTPUTFILE$}"

Create your own variables inside [DirectiveVariables].

[DirectiveVariables]
MYVERSION=1.0
OUTPUTNAME=Installer

Use them in any section:

[General]
Title=My archive {$MYVERSION$}
OutputName={$OUTPUTNAME$} {$MYVERSION$}.exe

; Paquet Builder Directive File
[General]
Title=My archive 1
NoSourceSection=1
OutputName=Direct2.exe
OutputDir=C:\Build\Output
ProjectTemplate=C:\Build\Template.pbpx
LiveUpdate=1

Use NoSourceSection=1 if your directive modifies an existing project without changing its file list.