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JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

jdeploy.com

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Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#71

Post by zmmmmm »

exabrial wrote: post #26

This actually serves an immediate need for us... we recently wrote a quite nice JavaFX desktop app to take care of some redundant data processing stuff and api pinging nonsense. Second coming of JNLP it looks like

> Second coming of JNLP it looks like

Indeed! I never really understood how Sun screwed that part up so bad. It served a highly valuable need, but it seemed like they almost intentionally killed it by making the apps so awkward to deploy and manage from a security perspective it was non viable to use.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#72

Post by brabel »

shannah78 wrote: post #32
Ingon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, Swing is just there, so for a simple app you don’t need to figure out dependencies or how to fit JavaFX into maven/gradle.

> figure out dependencies or how to fit JavaFX into maven/gradle. I struggle with the same thing. jDeploy solves one half of that (deploying javafx is no longer a struggle). I think there is still room to make creating new projects simpler.

Don't do that, use a JVM that includes JavaFX, as this project seems to do. If you use SDKMAN, there are a couple of vendors, including Zulu, that distribute the latest JDKs with JavaFX included.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#73

Post by alex_suzuki »

lamontcg wrote: post #61
seinecle wrote: post #55

Congrats on cracking the Mac notarization feature and other nightmare in the Mac release chain!

Hope the author doesn't wind up back here in a few weeks after getting into a fight with Apple over that aspect.

I'm afraid this is a likely outcome.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#74

Post by alex_suzuki »

shannah78 wrote: post #2

This is a passion project of mine to make it easier to deploy Java desktop apps. I'm very happy with the result, as IMO, the process is orders of magnitudes simpler than what we had before. Some features include: - Native installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux - Build native bundles for all platforms from any platform (e.g. You don't need Mac to make a Mac app. You don't need Windows to make a Windows app, etc..) - A…

Interesting project. We build and maintain a significant cross-platform JavaFX app, and use a combination of JLink (to create a smaller executable with bundled JRE), install4j (for the native .app/.exe wrapper) and Packages (macOS)/InnoSetup (Windows) for the installer. The installer has a non-trivial amount of scripting under the hood so being able to customize that is really important, at least for us.

I wonder if you won't run into trouble because of the Mac codesigning/notarization though. I think this poses a significant legal risk to you, as you are now distributing potentially malicious software signed with your certificate. Also I'm pretty certain Apple doesn't like this "code signing as a service" approach.

But hats off, cool project!

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#75

Post by invalidname »

whartung wrote: post #39
Ingon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, Swing is just there, so for a simple app you don’t need to figure out dependencies or how to fit JavaFX into maven/gradle.

I haven't seemed to be running into any problems ... yet ... with JavaFX maven dependencies. It pretty much Just Works(tm). A single main dependency (org.openjfx/javafx-control) and a plugin (org.openjfx/javafx-maven-plugin) and you're off to the races. I don't install JFX into the JDK at all (not even sure, honestly, if that's still a thing). I have more problems with JDK 9 modules (which modern JavaFX seems to supp…

Did you actually ship the app or is it something small scale?

The pain of JavaFX becomes apparent at deployment time. Installing in a small closed ecosystem is fine. Mass market with all the variance. Ugh.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#76

Post by brabel »

shannah78 wrote: post #50
TeaVMFan wrote: post #48

This looks very impressive. "You must have a Mac to make a Mac binary" has always been an annoying shortcoming of jpackage, especially for smaller or independent developers. Congrats, and thanks. This is going to be very useful for many developers.

Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to seeing how devs will use it.

Why does it download a JVM separately instead of packaging the app with jpackage (which would result in a much smaller footprint)?

EDIT: I mean jlink - jpackage would be an alternative to creating installers, but jlink just packages the app with parts of the JVM it requires, which seems could make this tool better by avoiding the need so maintain JREs (which are deprecated) on the user's machine.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#77

Post by aww_dang »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #64
shannah78 wrote: post #2

This is a passion project of mine to make it easier to deploy Java desktop apps. I'm very happy with the result, as IMO, the process is orders of magnitudes simpler than what we had before. Some features include: - Native installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux - Build native bundles for all platforms from any platform (e.g. You don't need Mac to make a Mac app. You don't need Windows to make a Windows app, etc..) - A…

A bugbear of mine having to use a couple of Java apps on my Mac is the non native window support. Do JBundle'd apps support native full screen size (not just expanding to fill the size of the screen, which allows other app windows to appear in front/behind), and native keyboard shortcut behaviour?

SWT offers native UI support for Java apps, but the developer has to integrate it.

https://www.eclipse.org/swt/

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#78

Post by lf-non »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #64
shannah78 wrote: post #2

This is a passion project of mine to make it easier to deploy Java desktop apps. I'm very happy with the result, as IMO, the process is orders of magnitudes simpler than what we had before. Some features include: - Native installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux - Build native bundles for all platforms from any platform (e.g. You don't need Mac to make a Mac app. You don't need Windows to make a Windows app, etc..) - A…

A bugbear of mine having to use a couple of Java apps on my Mac is the non native window support. Do JBundle'd apps support native full screen size (not just expanding to fill the size of the screen, which allows other app windows to appear in front/behind), and native keyboard shortcut behaviour?

This is more of a GUI concern, and I wouldn't expect a bundler like JDeploy to be able to do something about this.

An appropriate GUI toolkit should be able to integrate with the native fullscreen.

I briefly used the webview for java library [1] and it does the right thing because the browser handles it. JavaFX also supports [2] native fullscreen if appropriate integration is used. Not sure about Swing/AWT etc.

[1] https://github.com/shannah/webviewjar

[2] https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/javafx/api/javafx/stage/Sta...

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#79

Post by bilbo0s »

alex_suzuki wrote: post #73
lamontcg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope the author doesn't wind up back here in a few weeks after getting into a fight with Apple over that aspect.

I'm afraid this is a likely outcome.

I think the feds might get to him first because the unfortunate reality is that the world is full of arseholes. One of those arseholes will surely use this system to distribute malware, and that malware will be signed with this guy's certificate. Which will lead the cops back to this guy.

I have a feeling that apple will have to wait their turn on this one. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.

Re: JDeploy – Deploy desktop Java apps as native bundles on Mac, Linux, and Windows

#80

Post by ihateolives »

shannah78 wrote: post #2

This is a passion project of mine to make it easier to deploy Java desktop apps. I'm very happy with the result, as IMO, the process is orders of magnitudes simpler than what we had before. Some features include: - Native installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux - Build native bundles for all platforms from any platform (e.g. You don't need Mac to make a Mac app. You don't need Windows to make a Windows app, etc..) - A…

No uninstaller on Windows? It doesn't show up neither in old control panel nor new remove programs list.
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