Hello Dave!
Great work with going through the options.
I would like to add to the list...
The installer generator should run on Windows.
The installer generator should run on Linux.
This is because I would like to include the building of the installers in
the normal release builds. Currently I build releases on Windows but I would
like to keep the options open.
It is good to focus on one of the installers and integrating that in the
release build. After that, we could try and add another one to provide more
options for our users.
/Linus
2008/1/18, Dave T <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've been doing some research to find a suitable native installer for
> ArgoUML on windows (see issue 3705). Below are my findings. I'd value
> your constructive opinions/thoughts before going down any particular
> route.
>
> Criteria for choosing installer technology ('shall'=compulsory,
> 'should'=desirable):
> - The installer shall be distributable as single file.
> - The installer shall not install software other than ArgoUML/JRE.
> - The installer generator shall be free.
> - The generated installers shall not have any restrictive liscencing.
> - The installer should detect/assist download of a suitable JRE.
> - The installer should not show any 'trial version' or similar
> messages.
> - The installer interface should be simple to use.
> - The installer should create suitable shortcuts for launching ArgoUML.
> - The installer should be generated by a script, which can run without
> human intervention.
>
> Some ArgoUML installers have been and gone in the past, so I think it is
> important that the installer becomes something that is created
> automatically for each release. The ability to generate the installer
> from Ant would probably be helpful in this regard. If it falls to
> someone to manually generate it separately, then it risks being late or
> forgotten for any given ArgoUML release.
>
> The following URLs highlighted a number of possibles:
>
> http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/Java/Development_Tools/Deployment/?tc=1/
> http://www.java2s.com/Open-Source/Java/Installers/CatalogInstallers.htm
>
> Summary of possible candidates:
> JExpress - not free
> AutoRad - not Applicable - logistics handler
> Seppia - not applicable
> Duckware - looks good but requires jexepack which isn't free.
> CPacker - not applicable
> EvaluateAnywhere - for trial versions of software? - community edition
> available.
> FreeInstaller - dead website.
> AntInstaller - Looks good but requires JVM (creates a .jar).
> MiniInstaller - Looks good but requires JVM (creates a .jar).
> IzPack* - looks good.
> JSmooth - java executable wrapper.
> Launch4j - java executable wrapper.
> Packlet - Alpha software, requires JVM.
> Toolshed - dead website (www.toolshed.com)
> VAInstall - Looks good but requires JVM
> NSIS* - self extracting scriptable installer
> WindowsInstaller*- self extracting .msi.
>
> A completely separate option is compiling ArgoUML as a native exe (i.e.
> static compilation), which opens up a lot more of the conventional
> deployment options, but I fear that this might not be so popular amongst
> the developers (feel free to comment)!
>
>
> The favourites in a bit more detail:
>
> NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System)
> -------------------------------------------
> Quite a popular open source deployment system, based on a self
> extracting exe which runs a script. Plugins would potentially allow a
> JRE to be downloaded if necessary, file associations to be set, etc.
> I've found some example scripts to do this. There is now even an
> Eclipse plugin for developing the NSIS configuration files. The look
> and feel of the installers is quite customizable.
>
>
> IzPack
> ------
> A java based installer that can be generated from ant, creates
> shortcuts, etc. Out of the box, it just creates jar files, (i.e. not a
> native installer), but an addon called 'IzPack Native Launcher' can be
> used to solve this, prompting the user with options for
> installing/downloading a JRE if necessary, then running the .jar. This
> can be packaged as as single self extracting .exe using 7zip
> (http://www.javalobby.org/articles/izpack/index.jsp) or possibly
> JSmooth. The argouml-installer project already contains significant
> work done using IzPack, and an IzPack .jar file was created for ArgoUML
> 0.20. The created IzPack installers themselves are a little bit clunky
> perhaps, and seems to ask the user more questions than necessary, but
> are functionally excellent.
>
>
> Microsoft Installer (.msi)
> --------------------------
> Currently encouraged by microsoft, these are very nice clean looking
> installers (such as TortoiseSVN). Probably more suited to native
> applications rather than java ones, and I'm not sure how customisable it
> all is. The installers can be generated using the free 'Wix', which is
> a .net application.
>
>
> So far, I'm pretty tied between these three, if anything, leaning a
> little towards NSIS. As I said earlier I'd value your opinions and
> thoughts before committing to one.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave
>
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