is there a difference between using my java program as a jar file as opposed to using a software like IzPack to create an installer and install it onto a system ? Does it make any difference performance wise and what are some benefits ( if any) of going either way ( aside from creating shortcuts) ?
Using jar directly allows it to be used in other machines.
If you were to use IzPack to create an installer, it will still work in other systems after installation.
As far as I know, there is none performance-wise.
Your question is very vague.
Some tools like WinRun4J can be helpful to optimize the amount of memory available for your program at startup. WinRun4J and PackR allow to use a custom name for the executable which is useful if you want to hide the fact that your program uses Java.
Some web browsers under some operating systems break the downloaded JARs by wrapping them in ZIPs for "security purposes".
Some tools use a fat JAR in input and produce a kind a native bundle which is more familiar for the end users, PackR and JNDT produce APP files for OS X, JNDT produce RPM and DEB packages for GNU Linux.
Whether it is a jar file or Izpack installed java app, there won't be any performance difference.
The main differentiator I see is the user experience. For simple applications it doesn't make much difference. But for any medium to large scale application which needs to perform some prerequisite checks, capture configuration data from user, upgrade the application etc, installer helps a lot in making installation more user-friendly.
So using Izpack or in any installer in general, improves the user experience. Some of them I can think of are:
Installer can perform any software prerequisite checks before
installing the application.
Allows user to choose the installation location
Prompts for any required input parameters or configuration and validating it
Allows the user to enter these input or configuration data
Upgrades the software by taking care of any data software or data/configuration migrating and ensures proper rollback in case of
failures.
Without the installer most of these need manual intervention and installation becomes more error prone, manual errors and becomes a tedious job for the user.
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Java is one of my programming languages of choice. I always run into the problem though of distributing my application to end-users.
Giving a user a JAR is not always as user friendly as I would like and using Java WebStart requires that I maintain a web server.
What's the best way to distribute a Java application? What if the Java application needs to install artifacts to the user's computer? Are there any good Java installation/packaging systems out there?
There are a variety of solutions, depending on your distribution requirements.
Just use a jar. This assumes that the user has the the correct java version installed, otherwise the user will get "class-file format version" exceptions. This is fine for internal distribution inside a company.
Use launch4j and an installer like NSIS. This gives you a lot more control, although the user can still do stupid stuff like un-installing the java runtime. This is probably the most popular approach, and what I currently use.
Use Webstart. This also assumes that the user has the correct java version installed, but it's a lot easier to get going. My experience is that this is fine for tightly controlled intranet environments, but becomes a pain with larger deployments because it has some many weird failures. It may get better with the new plug-in technology in Java 1.7.
Use a native-code compiler like Excelsior JET and distribute as a executable, or wrap it up in an installer. Expensive, and it generally ties you to a slightly older version of java, and there is some pain with dynamic class-loading, but its very effective for large-scale deployment where you need to minimise your support hassles.
advanced installer makes it easy to package java apps as windows executables, and it's quite flexible in the way you can set it up. I've found that for distributing java applications to windows clients, this is the easiest way to go.
JSmooth is a simple program that takes your jar and wraps it up in a standard windows executable file. It comes with a simple GUI that allows you to configure the required JVM, bundle it with the application or provide an option to download it if it's not already installed. You can send the exe file as is or zip it with possible dependencies (or let the program download the extra dependencies from the net on startup). It's also free, as in beer and speech, which may (or may not) be a good thing.
If it's a real GUI-having end user application you should ignore the lanaguage in which you wrote the program (Java) and use a native installer for each of your chosen platforms. Mac folks want a .dmg and on windows a .msi or a .exe installer is the way to go. On Windows I prefer NSIS from NullSoft only because it's less objectionable than InstallShield or InstallAnywhere. On OSX you can count on the JVM already being there. On Windows you'll need to check and install it for them if necessary. Linux people won't run Java GUI applications, and the few that will, know what to do with an executable .jar.
It depends on how sophisticated your target users are. In most cases you want to isolate them from the fact that you are running a Java-based app. Give them with a native installer that does the right thing (create start menu entries, launchers, register with add/remove programs, etc.) and already bundles a Java runtime (so the user does not need to know or care about it). I would like to suggest our cross platform installation tool, BitRock InstallBuilder. Although it is not Java-based, it is commonly used to package Java applications. It can be easily integrated with Ant and you can build Windows installers from Unix/Linux/Mac and the other way around. Because the generated installers are native, they do not require a self-extraction step or a JRE to be already present in the target system, which means smaller installers and saves you some headaches. I also would like to mention we have free licenses for open source projects
Although I haven't used NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Installer System) myself, there are install scripts that will check whether or not the required JRE is installed on the target system.
Many sample scripts are available from the Code Examples and Real World Installers pages, such as:
Java Launcher with automatic JRE installation
Simple Java Runtime Download Script
(Please note that I haven't actually used any of the scripts, so please don't take it as an endorsement.)
executable files are best but they are platform limited i.e. use gcj : http://gcc.gnu.org/java/ for linux to produce executables and use launch4j : http://launch4j.sourceforge.net/ to produce windows executables.
To package on linux you can use any rpm or deb packager. For win32 try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nullsoft_Scriptable_Install_System
I needed a way to package my project and its dependencies into a single jar file.
I found what I needed using the Maven2 Assembly plugin: Maven2 Assembly plugin
This appears to duplicate the functionality of one-jar, but requires no additional configuration to get it going.
For simple Java apps I like to use Jar's. It is very simple to distribute one file that a user can just click on (Windows), or
java -jar jarname.jar
IMHO, jar is the way to go when simplicity is a main requirement.
I develop eclipse RCP applications. Normally to start an eclipse application an executable launcher is included. I include the java virtual machine inside the application folder in a /jre sub directory to ensure that the right java version will be used.
Then we package with Inno Setup for installation on the user's machine.
What's the best way to distribute a
Java application? What if the Java
application needs to install artifacts
to the user's computer? Are there any
good Java installation/packaging
systems out there?
In my experience (from evaluating a number of options), install4j is a good solution. It creates native installers for any platform, and is specifically geared towards installing Java apps. For details, see "Features" on its website.
install4j is a commercial tool, though. Especially if your needs are relatively simple (just distribute an application and install some artifacts), many other good options exist, including free ones (like izPack or the already mentioned Lauch4j). But you asked for the best way, and to my current knowledge install4j is the one, especially for distributing larger or more complicated Java (EE) apps.
The best answer depends on the platform. For deployment on Windows, I have had good results using a combination of one-jar and launch4j. It did take a little while to set up my build environment properly (ant scripts, mostly) but now it's fairly painless.
Well from my point of view the superior distribution mechanism is to use something like ClickOnce, or WebStart technology. You just deploy the version to the server and it gets automatically to the clients when the version is released.
Also the Eclipse RCP platform contains UpdateManager that does what WebStart do, but also much more.
Since I am using Maven2 for building, the deployment is just a piece of cake: copy the built jar to the location on the server, update the jnlp file if needed and you are done.
installanywhere is good but expensive one - i have not found (as) good free one
I would zip the jar file along with other dependent jars, configuration files and documentation along with a run.bat/run.sh. End user should be able unzip it to any location and edit the run.bat if required (It should run without editing in most of the cases).
An installer may be useful if you want to create entries in start menu, desktop, system tray etc.
As a user I prefer unzip and run kind of installation (no start menu entries please). However People outside IT industry may have different preferences. So if the application is largely targeted for developers zip-run.bat route and applications for general public may be installed using a installer.
I have been working on a freeware application named "Cyberoam Iview" that has two modules, one written in C and the other in JAVA. Just for you know, this is an online application that requires JDK,PostgreSql database,Apache Server to setup on any host system environment.
I tweaked some changes to the available source-code according to my requirement. After the changes, I want to deploy this application as a one single packaged file, like in ".exe" format. All it's pre-requisites are required to be bundled in a single ".exe" format so that when I run that ".exe" file on my system, it installs and setup every application that it requires to run like installing Postgresql, setting up Apache server environment, JDK.
I read many posts and discussions, and thus tried my hands with CYGWIN tool to deploy the application, but failed to do so.
Suggestions are most welcome. Thanks in advance.
You can take a look at JSMooth. I use this for this purpose. You can create a standalone executeable and it even provides a downloader if no Java is installed.
I have some good experiences with IzPack installer and I can highly recommend it. You can check out my short and simple tutorial at Softwarepassion website - I guess a bit outdated tho.
You should be able to pack your jars and all external files as a single file
I worked on a Java project in which web services are used, values are to be modified in registry and there are some DLLs to be register with system. there are some environment variables to set, at the time of installation, keeping in mind these requirements , which Java installer is best, i also need a installer which is platform independent as my Java project is platform independent.
I think i may use IzPack
but i think you guys can help me better and suggest me an installer.
If a commercial product is an option, you could take a look at install4j, but I can't say anything about it.
IzPack seems to be the only open source Java installer that's still being actively developed. I've recently used it myself, and it has a lot of powerful features, but is not easy to get started with. There's a lot of documentation that describes some things in great detail, but unfortunately no simple "how to" for the most common case. Expect to spend a lot of time on trial-and-error.
I would use IzPack, its a great tool which bundles your installer in a jar. platform independent and with the possibility to only use some routines when special conditions a present. For example, only install DLL on Windows, mess with the registry (Custom Action) and so on.
I always enjoyed using IzPack and suggest you should give it a try.
The doc is also a great resource for the possibilities Doc
I have created a desktop application in Java using NetBeans 6.1 and made a jar file of the application. Now I want to make it automatically start up whenever a client's machine boots up.
How do I do that?
There are many commercial installers which can do this
http://www.advancedinstaller.com/jre-install.html
Are you looking for a free/OS one?
Thanks
Krishna
This installer can create a file with "msi" extension that will behave as regular windows installer. It bundles your jar file and JRE together into single file. The program acts as a "wizard", where you configure all necessary options.
Take a look at this product:Advanced Installer
Good luck.
If you simply want to have a java application autostarted in Windows you could just create a link in the users autostart folder calling javaw the same way you'd normally call java.
This is just meant FYI, the other suggestions are more general, of course, but this could be the simplest solution...
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I have found the following order best suite to take a decision for commercial or free one, to fit your needs (most of the following does auto startup + extra features):
Order show more features on top:
BitRock: see features
i would really use this one, because it does all cross platform + Jnlp + Prerequisite
Tanukio: enter link description here
IzPack
Advancedinstaller: features
(optional) Jnlp web start: example (this should become future way of installing)
Please note that, prerequisite is not mentioned, most of there feature list, which is very important to have in all of them, because many case we use third party libraries/dependencies, so the best question would be to know if they support it or not.
Take a look at Tanuki's Java Service Wrapper. The Community version does what you need, plus a lot more.
If you only need to run a Java program periodically, I like pycron, which installs itself as a Windows service and then reads a Unix style crontab file where you would enter a line that tells pycron when it needs to run the java process (eg, every night at 3am).