JFX build and deployment - squeaking wheel

Tue Nov 6 09:41:47 PST 2012

Hi Richard,
Maven already has mojos that package .app, .deb, and rpms:

http://mojo.codehaus.org/osxappbundle-maven-plugin/
http://mojo.codehaus.org/deb-maven-plugin/
http://mojo.codehaus.org/rpm-maven-plugin/

Mark

Cheers,

Mark

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 8:45 AM, Richard Bair <richard.bair at oracle.com>wrote:

> I agree that building app bundles from any platform for any other platform
> would be a huge win, as it would make it trivial for anybody to use. Some
> thoughts:
>
>   - For DMG I thought it was basically an HFS formatted file? And I
> thought there were Java tools out there already for reading / writing to
> HFS. I doubt creating DMG's from any platform would be an insurmountable
> problem.
>
>   - For .app, of course, this is pretty easy for us to do on any platform
> as it is just a specially named directory with various meta-data.
>
>   - Sounds like appx isn't going to be too hard either
>
>   - I am not sure about RPM and DEB, but I'd be shocked if those couldn't
> be produced from any arbitrary OS
>
>   - WiX is probably going to be a bit of a pain in the neck. We can scope
> it down to make it less difficult, but writing a complete WiX parser / MSI
> producer is probably a big job and, I would guess, a moving target (if
> Microsoft is continuing to add features to it or support it, which I
> suspect is the case).
>
>   - I don't have any knowledge on producing .exe files. Anybody?
>
> It seems to me that at least the Mac / Linux side of the problem should be
> fairly straightforward. Unless you have to sign your .app, in which case it
> might be a little more cumbersome. Also the giving of entitlements to a Mac
> application might be another problem area? On the windows side I have less
> experience with native windows installer technology so I'm not sure how
> practical it is to create exe files or .msi installers based on WiX?
>
> On Nov 5, 2012, at 3:22 PM, Daniel Zwolenski <zonski at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Also very, very interesting.
> >
> > This format looks quite easy to work with and as far as I can see would
> allow for Windows apps to be built on other platforms (e.g. Linux). We
> should in theory just be able to include the JRE in the bundle and then
> call javaw.exe via the manifest. No native building necessary, just a sort
> of "zipping".
> >
> > I'm still digging but I can't see a way to pass command line params, so
> specifying "javaw.exe -jar myapp.jar" via the AppxManifest.xml might be
> problematic. Hopefully there is something there for this, but it wouldn't
> surprise me if MS didn't support this on purpose.
> >
> > An alternative might be to have a custom launcher.exe that reads a
> bundled app-profile file and then launches java.exe as a new process with
> the appropriate details, or a modified JRE that does the same thing but
> without starting a new process. Not sure if we'll run into the same legal
> restrictions as Mac store though with OpenJDK and GPL (probably) so might
> have to limit it to whatever can be done with the Oracle JRE.
> >
> > Ensemble in the Windows store maybe? I don't have a windows 8 machine
> yet though.
> >
> > Do we know if JFX will need/benefit-from any changes to work on Win8 or
> will the current Win implementation be the same used on Win8 going forward?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 9:32 AM, John Smith <John_Smith at symantec.com>
> wrote:
> > > Is this what the new Windows Store uses as well?
> >
> > No, Windows Store does not use MSI, it uses appx files and Open
> Packaging Conventions.
> >
> > There is no installer, updater or uninstaller for the package, just some
> metadata which a store client can use to install, update or uninstall a
> component.
> > appx is just like a zip file with a manifest, similar to a jar file.
> >
> > Those interested, can see here for info:
> >   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh464929.aspxApp packages and deployment (Windows Store apps)
> >   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh446767.aspxApp packager (MakeAppx.exe) - kind of the Windows Store equivalent of
> javafxpackager.exe
> >
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh446593%28v=vs.85%29.aspxPackaging, deployment, and query of Windows Store apps
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net [mailto:
> openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net] On Behalf Of Richard Bair
> > Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 12:58 PM
> > To: Josh Marinacci
> > Cc: openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net
> > Subject: Re: JFX build and deployment - squeaking wheel
> >
> > I'm not sure, to be honest.
> >
> > On Nov 3, 2012, at 11:08 AM, Josh Marinacci <joshua at marinacci.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Interesting.  Is this what the new Windows Store uses as well?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Josh Marinacci
> > > joshondesign.com
> > >
> > > On Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Scott Palmer wrote:
> > >
> > >> Right. MSI is sort of an official MicroSoft Installer format. The
> > >> .msi file is read by the built-in Windows installer APIs. Sort of
> > >> like how .pkg is handled natively by OS X, and .rpm and .deb are
> > >> handled natively by Linux distros. Exe installers could be anything,
> > >> they just aren't the same. though often they are special
> > >> bootstrappers tacked on to one or more MSI databases. MSI is a
> > >> table-based description of the stuff to install. (It isn't
> > >> particularly good mind you, it's just well supported by the Windows
> > >> OS.)
> > >>
> > >> Scott
> > >>
> > >> On 2012-11-03, at 12:10 PM, Joshua Marinacci <joshua at marinacci.org>
> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Ah. So an MSI is not just another installer format? It has special
> > >>> properties make it different than NSIS?
> > >>>
> > >>> Most likely sent from Planet Earth
> > >>>
> > >>> On Nov 3, 2012, at 6:45 AM, Richard Bair <richard.bair at oracle.com>
> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>>> I just tried using the AppBundler (the other one from Java.net) to
> create a Mac bundle with an embedded JRE and it worked pretty well. For
> Windows is an MSI file a requirement or could some other installer system
> work? I just found NSIS which can generate Windows installers from linux.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> The reason MSI is important is that for many large sites with IT
> departments, they don't want to have to go around from machine to machine
> manually installing software and, they don't trust users to be able to
> download and install software themselves (either by policy or by some means
> of enforcement). Giving the IT department an MSI allows them to remotely
> push updates / software onto the correct users machines according to
> whatever policies they've crafted in their business. Or remove the software
> when the time comes.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Richard
> > >
> >
> >
>
>