Native macOS and Windows Application

Andrea Liana andrea.liana at ingliana.com
Thu Oct 11 07:42:43 UTC 2018


Hello,

I am asking directions about the best way to do obtain a proper macOS 
native application from a Java 11 project. And also for Windows platform.

My current project is made of a number of modules plus some 
not-modularized jars for JDBC access and I need also to include the 
JavaFX 11 modules.

My problem is that the current macOS support for Java inside a ".app" 
still works with classpaths, not modules.

So i tried a different approach:

- I created a template with Platypus (http://sveinbjorn.org/platypus/)

- I made a little program for research purpose that creates all modules 
jars using the compiler API

- with jlink I created a working command line application with all jars, 
modularized and not

- I modified the Platypus template and inserted  the jlink application 
inside the .app; the Platypus script calls the jlink generated start.sh.

The final result is decent but poses some problems for later updates. 
When I was using the classpath approach I was able to update the jars 
included under .app/Contents/Resources folder when needed; now with 
jlink I can no longer apply this strategy.

I am looking for some advice if there is a better approach to obtain a 
native macOS .app / Windows .exe which let me still replace jars with 
later upgrades without distributing the entire application again.

Thanking in advance,

Andrea Liana



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