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Java Forum / General / September 2006Cross-platform installer package?
Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? Scanning Google, it appears that the installer package landscape is all focused on specific operating systems. > Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? Scanning > Google, it appears that the installer package landscape is all focused > on specific operating systems. InstallJammer. Written in Tcl and runs on several different platforms. Open source. Does lots of cool things. Author is very responsive to suggestions and eager to please. :) Worth much more than what it costs ($0). www.installjammer.com It's not Java-specific, but it does have a handful of settings to make it easier to install Java apps.  SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. > > Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? Scanning > > Google, it appears that the installer package landscape is all focused [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > It's not Java-specific, but it does have a handful of settings to make it > easier to install Java apps. This is incredible. Thanks! >>> Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? Scanning >>> Google, it appears that the installer package landscape is all focused [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > This is incredible. Thanks! LOL, I actually found this post via a google and came pack to respond to an old post I made asking people about cross-platform installers. I am now using InstallJammer and it is excellent. While I'm sure JWS is a good option it must first be installed and I don't think that is a reasonable assumption. Lionel. > >>> Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? ... > >> www.installjammer.com Does the definition 'cross-platform' usually include Mac's? (I say it does) InstallJammer homepage.. "InstallJammer is a multiplatform GUI installer designed to be completely cross-platform and function on Windows and most all versions of UNIX with eventual support for Mac OS X." IJ is not X-plat. ... > > This is incredible. Thanks! .. > LOL, I actually found this post via a google and came pack to respond to > an old post I made asking people about cross-platform installers. I am > now using InstallJammer and it is excellent. While I'm sure JWS is a > good option it must first be installed and I don't think that is a > reasonable assumption. Possibly not. But then, JWS comes with any (modern) JRE. What does IJ offer when no suitable JRE is found? <http://www.installjammer.com/docs/index.html?LocateJavaRuntime> ..which ends with an option to 'Prompt User'. JWS has a simple little web-page to check for WebStart availability and prompt installation. As I understand it, the JRE can come from the 'same disk as the web-page' (better for off-line install) - or from Sun. Andrew T. > Does the definition 'cross-platform' usually include Mac's? > (I say it does) [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > IJ is not X-plat. Nitpick - Not as X-plat as it should be. Windows and most flavors of Unix are supported, so it's obviously not single-platform. :) IIRC the author is working on Mac OSX compatibility, but you may want to contact him. > What does IJ offer when no suitable JRE is found? ><http://www.installjammer.com/docs/index.html?LocateJavaRuntime> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > the 'same disk as the web-page' (better for off-line install) - or from > Sun. Well, that's a good point, but I believe I made the point that it's not a Java-specific program. On the other hand, most installers that claim to find JRE's only do a few specific things like checking the Registry (on Windows), or checking the system path. That could be added in easily enough. Anyhow, IJ is a great general-purpose installer. This does not mean it's going to be great for everyone, and I would expect that many people (especially in this newsgroup) would prefer a solution like JWS. I was just putting the suggestion out there... SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. .. > > What does IJ offer when no suitable JRE is found? > ><http://www.installjammer.com/docs/index.html?LocateJavaRuntime> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > (on Windows), or checking the system path. That could be added in easily > enough. No. IJ already offers all the usual 'find Java to best version' automatically (or you can tell the script to do so, according to that page) - it is just that failing finding a suitable JRE by the automated method, you (the deployer) can choose to offer the 'Prompt for Java' as a last ditch effort. [ As an aside - I prefer that approach to attempts to 'bundle' a JVM with each application. ] > Anyhow, IJ is a great general-purpose installer. This does not mean it's > going to be great for everyone, and I would expect that many people > (especially in this newsgroup) would prefer a solution like JWS. I was > just putting the suggestion out there... Good points. There are sure things that JWS either cannot do, or has significant trouble with. No deployment solution fits every situation. Andrew T. >> to find JRE's only do a few specific things like checking the Registry >> (on Windows), or checking the system path. That could be added in easily [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > by the automated method, you (the deployer) can choose > to offer the 'Prompt for Java' as a last ditch effort. Eh... I must not have RTFM'd closely enough. I missed that. Thanks. SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. >>> to find JRE's only do a few specific things like checking the Registry >>> (on Windows), or checking the system path. That could be added in easily [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Eh... I must not have RTFM'd closely enough. I missed that. Thanks. You can do it that way but it's rather clunky in my opinion. I still make use of their search for Java, if it's not found then if the user downloaded the installer with Java they are offered the opportunity to have Java installed automatically. I'm creating several different installers which are all just slightly different from each other: Windows MyApp MyApp+Java MyApp+MySQL MyApp+Java+MySQL The same above for Unix/Linux but not offering MySQL in the install. Lionel. > You can do it that way but it's rather clunky in my opinion. I still > make use of their search for Java, if it's not found then if the user > downloaded the installer with Java they are offered the opportunity to > have Java installed automatically. I'm creating several different > installers which are all just slightly different from each other: Perhaps you could share how you did this? thanks SignatureSteve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. > >> You can do it that way but it's rather clunky in my opinion. I still [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Perhaps you could share how you did this? Well I haven't finished yet but it's basically like this. Create a new pane that has two radio buttons, one that is selected by default and indicates that your installer will automatically install Java (You must have the appropriate Java installer packaged) and give the default location. There's a brows button that allows the user to change the location if they so desire. When the next button is clicked the Java installer is launched providing options to install silently. Provide another radio button that the user can select and then press a second browse button allowing them to tell you where the correct Java version is. This time when the Next button is clicked check that the Java version is valid, if not don't proceed and tell the user. Set the search for Java action to be executed before the above pane is shown, if the correct Java version is NOT found show the pane, else don't and the installer continues. The installer project can be copied and slight modifications such as the JRE installer can be changed to allow for the target OS. As I said, I'm still working on the details, but if you want to know more let me know. That's provided I don't get convinced about JWS in the mean time :). Lionel. >>>>> Does anyone know of a cross-platform installer package? > ... [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > IJ is not X-plat. I'm relying the eventual support and I believe I can take a crack at getting it to run on Mac OS X as it is unix based anyway. You do have a point though and I wasn't as concerned about Mac as I was Unix and Windows. > ... >>> This is incredible. Thanks! [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > <http://www.installjammer.com/docs/index.html?LocateJavaRuntime> > ..which ends with an option to 'Prompt User'. My installer will automatically install Java, I only made minimal use of the Java Support in InstallJammer. Launching the Java installer in silent mode with basic gui (to show user progress bar) is an excellent solution. > JWS has a simple little web-page to check for WebStart availability > and prompt installation. As I understand it, the JRE can come from > the 'same disk as the web-page' (better for off-line install) - or from > Sun. My problem was that you have to check if Java is installed using something other than Java anyway. Using InstallJammer I have a consistent look and language throughout the install. Also, does JWS provide an install builder? Will it automatically create links to desktop on windows, linux, unix and eventually Mac? Will it add entries to start menu? Is it possible to achieve everything that is stated it can do without an Internet connection, just a CD? I haven't found any clear cut tutorials which makes it harder for me to just get the job done. I'm still open, but I am proceeding incredibly happily with IJ because it can do everything I want, and I get to learn a bit of Tcl/Tk :). Lionel. ... > Also, does JWS provide an install builder? I do not know quite what you mean by 'install builder'. >...Will it automatically create > links to desktop on windows, linux, unix and eventually Mac? No. It will do that now. Or rather, it will *offer* the user desktop shortcuts and.. >..Will it add > entries to start menu? (Yes) ..start menu intem (both with associated icons, and the menu item in optional 'sub' menu). The 'offer' part of it is neat - I can suggest to the end user via the JNLP that either one or both (or neither) of desktop shortcut and menu item might be useful for the application. The end-user gets to choose (on a case-by-case, or permanent basis - if they tick the checkbox) whether to include it. >...Is it possible to achieve everything that is > stated it can do without an Internet connection, just a CD? Yes. I've never tried it, but I understand it is possible. > I haven't found any clear cut tutorials which makes it harder for me to > just get the job done. Sun's site sucks. I regularly have difficulty finding documents that I know are there, and for which have a number of keywords. I usually use Google to search Sun's site (specifying java.sun.com as the domain), since it also returns results much faster than Sun's search page.. Here is one of the 'seminal' documents (for me) in relation to WebStart. Most of it is in the 1.5 developers guide - overview here.. <http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/javaws/developersguide/contents.html> The parts that told me most about the abilities of WebStart, were .. 1) The elements offered in the JNLP <http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/javaws/developersguide/syntax.html> 2) Detecting JWS and correctly launching the JNLP is described here.. <http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/javaws/developersguide/launch.html> > I'm still open, but I am proceeding incredibly happily with IJ because > it can do everything I want, and I get to learn a bit of Tcl/Tk :). Fair enough. At the moment I mostly use JWS, but occasionally throw up a 'jar with manifest' (which is fine when you can expect the client to have Java) to wrapping Java projects (screensavers) in an installer .exe (for Win. deployment - we use alternate installation mechanism for *nix - Mac's are not currently supported) using the NullSoft installer - which sounds very similar to IJ. ..It is wonderful that there are so many (free) deployment options. :-) Andrew T. > I regularly have difficulty finding documents that I know are there, > and for which have a number of keywords. I usually use Google > to search Sun's site (specifying java.sun.com as the domain), > since it also returns results much faster than Sun's search page.. Great, I'm not the only one then. > Most of it is in the 1.5 developers guide - overview here.. > <http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/javaws/developersguide/contents.html> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > 2) Detecting JWS and correctly launching the JNLP is described here.. > <http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/javaws/developersguide/launch.html> Ok, it's looking more interesting now. On a lot of Linux systems you download and install Java and browsers will NOT know about it. It relies on you making a symbolic link. Even then it appears that Firefox and possibly others won't know about jnlp files. This indicates to me that Java can be installed and it is highly likely that the scripts provided on the above site will not find JWS. Is this correct? I can see that it's probably possible to look at the OS and offer to install the appropriate version of Java automatically so I believe I can improve on the process that Sun provides (in some areas). Lionel. > ... .. > >...Will it automatically create > > links to desktop on windows, linux, unix and eventually Mac? .. > ..it will *offer* the user desktop shortcuts and.. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > (Yes) ..start menu intem (both with associated icons, and the > menu item in optional 'sub' menu). Since I just put up two little examples that show combined menu-item/shortcut and shortcut ( and am trawling for test results ;) I thought I'd mention.. Here's two you can try - to see how it works for the end user. <http://www.javasaver.com/testjs/jmf/#test2> So far, the second works here, only very poorly (at downloading the media) but maybe that is because of my connection, which is very slow. Andrew T. > JWS has a simple little web-page to check for WebStart availability > and prompt installation. As I understand it, the JRE can come from > the 'same disk as the web-page' (better for off-line install) - or from > Sun. Correct me if I'm wrong but: http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjaws.html#BROWSERJNLP "Firefox Firefox does not seem to have a way of configuring associations other than selecting download rather than run for a small built-in set. Nevertheless it partly works, at least for jnlp files out on the web. It does not work for ones on local hard disk. It seems to bungle along with Windows associations and MIME type hints from webservers. Firefox will ask you what to do with an extension it has never seen before on download. This gives you an indirect way to set up an automatic association." So does that mean the JWS is going to be an absolute mongrel with Firefox? When I went searching this page was complaining about my not having JWS installed and I really don't know what I have to do to get this all to work, how is it going to be seemless for a common user? I'm not trying to find problems, I'm trying to find a solution. You seem to think JWS is great and I want to know why to see if it will do what I want. Lionel. > > JWS has a simple little web-page to check for WebStart availability > > and prompt installation. As I understand it, the JRE can come from [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjaws.html#BROWSERJNLP I am trimming the rest, for the moment, because the mindprod page is wrong. I have been meaning to drop an email to Roedy. The combined JS/VB solution described by Sun (as horrendous as it is) is the correct way to go about it. It covers any browser that supports the DOM (read, the NetScape family, + many others), as well as IE (that is where the VB comes into it). Andrew T. Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. There are no hidden fees and no obligation. Simply choose a title, complete the application form and submit it. Read more ...
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