I wouldn't be so quick to make that distinction. :-) ( Intentional smiley, no thin skin here. )

(Begin boring BIO )

InstallShield and I don't see eye to eye on what repackaging is versus what setup development is. Prior to moving to TX and joining ( ok really becoming, there are only a few of us and the others seem to have gotten sucked into other directions ) I was on a very large client server development project for a military client. Over the years on the project I've been everything from the guy that travels to deploy the system, to being on a level-3 sysadmin team, to becoming a full fledged developer and eventually being the CM Nazi. Somewhere in there ( about 1997 or so ) someone handed me a copy of InstallShield 3 and InstallShield 5 and said "We need a new install that doesn't suck."

My role as "install boy" quickly turned into heading up a client side integration team. Soon I found myself picking apart not only our developers code but also all of our various vendors products aswell. Back then before AdminStudio, before IAR ( InstallShield Application Repackager ) I used InCtrl 3.0 and notepad. With alot of detective work, integration work and banging a few developers heads against the wall to make them change their designs, I made a Bulletproof installation package that saw its way to about 20,000 machines worldwide 4-6 times a year for about 7 years. And these machines weren't all in some managed environment. They were everything under the sun.

No where during my 7 years on that project ( with well over 100 developers ) did I ever have one single developer come to me and offer to help on the install. It was usually like pulling teeth just to get requirements from them. They loved to develop new modules offline out of the reach of CM and then suddenly want to add all the archives to PVCS with no thought of the integration aspects. The CM would come to me and say so and so just checked in this new program you need to update the install.

What does all this have to do with Package Engineer vs Setup Developer? My point is I'm really doing the same thing today as I was then. I turn black boxes into white boxes. Then I smash them into a million peices and rebuild them into real installs. Faster, Stronger... ( Play Six Million Dollar Man music here. )

To me the only real difference is now instead of working for a development shop, I report to a Systems Engineering shop. But the engineers don't know anything about Setup Development so they give me free reign.

Judging from how InstallShield defines repackaging, I don't think this is the norm so otherwise I think Vagmi's conclusion about me would be correct. But I have way too many years under my belt as both a developer and a Setup Developer to sink to the level of "repackager".

Person using repackager cannot definitely come to terms with what it does without the knowledge of
- msi editor(Eg: DevStudio)
- windows installer
- programming (scripting)
- components and features
- deployment of application (AD,SMS)
- conflicts that may arise from projects installed on various platforms

Its difficult for a newbie to catch hold of what the technology can do and would spend their time figuring that out.
On the other hand when you are given freedom to do anything you can do with a given set of files and make it work. that even a newbie can pick it up from the start in with msi creation tools. Add the files to the project, build and your package is ready. Altogether they are called as release engineers and not setup developer/repackager.

I guess I get too caught up with work to be noticing what the industry labels different roles. Sometimes I peak around Monster.com and it's always interesting to me to hear the different terms. I guess my super generic stereotype of the roles would be:

Packaging:
1) Developer who get's stuck with writing the setup
2) A group of developers who colloborate as a team to write the setup ( I havn't personally seen this but Vagmi says it exists so I believe him! )
3) CM team who ends up doing setup as part of the build / release process
4) Setup Developer who specializes in the field

Repackaging:
1) SysAdmins who think they can run the wizard and be done
2) Developers lured over to the dark side to get the jobs done that the SysAdmins couldn't

Am I missing any?

fight the good fight :- D. thin or thick skin, I guess I was averted , now back on track

You forgot about my breed, the hybrid. In my role I have to do both and also have to be able to train people to do both. It is definitely a different set of thinking when repackaging vs. developing an install. I have to use a completely different approach when doing one task vs. the other.