What's the best way to distribute Java applica

Question

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?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

installanywhere is good but expensive one - i have not found (as) good free one

Answer 3

There are a variety of solutions, depending on your distribution requirements.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

Answer 4

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