Two builds made by clicking can silently differ. One saved command line makes every release of your tool identical - here are the switches and the release pattern around them.
The converter window is perfect for learning and terrible for consistency. If you ship converted tools to other people, the build itself deserves the same discipline as the script: one documented command, run verbatim, every release. F2KO documents a complete command-line interface for the converter, and this page turns it into a repeatable release process.
Every manual conversion depends on your memory: did I tick the admin manifest last time, was the working directory set to temp, which icon did I use? Two builds a month apart silently differ, and the bug report that follows is nearly impossible to reproduce. The converter ships with a full command-line interface documented by F2KO - the same options as the window, expressed as switches. Save the exact command with the tool, and the build stops depending on anyone’s memory.
The required pair is -bat for the source file and -save for the output EXE. Around them: -icon for the ICO file, -invisible for a windowless build, -temp to run from the temporary directory, -admin to embed the administrator manifest, -encrypt followed by a password for the launch gate, -include for extra files, -overwrite to replace an existing build, and the version family - -fileversion, -productversion, -productname, -company, -description, -copyright. Everything from the earlier pages of this series - manifest, icon, version discipline - becomes one line of text.
build.txt (or a small build script) in each tool folder containing the exact command-fileversion switch and your notes - all three, every timeOne caution the command line makes easy to forget: it happily overwrites yesterday’s shipped build with -overwrite. Point -save at a new versioned file name for real releases, so the previous build survives until the new one has proven itself in the field.
Repeatable builds turn conversion from a craft into a process: a colleague can rebuild your tool exactly, an auditor can see precisely which options produced a shipped EXE, and a regression can be bisected by rebuilding an older source with the same command. Pair this with the master-source discipline from this series and your converted tools stop being mysterious black boxes - they become releases.
The video teaches the GUI workflow first - graduate to the saved command line on this page once your tool is worth shipping twice.
Watch Full VideoIn the converter’s official help from F2KO, which lists the required -bat and -save parameters and the optional switches for icon, invisible mode, temp directory, encryption, admin manifest, included files and all version information fields.
Yes - put one command per tool in a single build script and run it. Each tool still gets its own versioned output name and options, and the whole toolkit rebuilds identically in one pass.
Yes, for experimenting - visibility, working directory and manifest choices are easier to explore by clicking. Once a tool’s options settle, freeze them into the saved command and let the GUI go.