boot support for MS-Windows

[ikappaki]

Hi,

is there a technical reason why boot is not supported for MS-Windows? boot.exe appears to behave similar to boot.sh which is currently in use. Both available from the same source at https://github.com/boot-clj/boot-bin/releases.

      - name: Get boot version
        # Boot is not yet available for windows
        if: ${{ matrix.os != 'windows-latest' }}
        run: boot -V

Thanks

[zharinov]

Just tried to set it up in Windows and here is what I see from action log:

D:\a\_temp\temp_321409018\boot\bin\boot.exe -u
This application requires a Java Runtime Environment 1.7.0
Error: The process 'D:\a\_temp\temp_321409018\boot\bin\boot.exe' failed with exit code 1

This problem brought me here: boot-clj/boot#694

Seems like it's more complicated than just downloading and executing .exe instead of .sh.

[ikappaki]

I have been playing around with boot.exe in a github action and it appears this is a known issue:

boot-clj/boot#721

The launch4j wrapper used to create the executable tries to locate a JAVAHome entry in the windows registry, but modern distributions do not add this entry.

A hack that I've tested to work with Java 1.8 in a GH action is to add the entry in the registry using the reg command tool (example below is from running the command in PowerShell):

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit\1.8" /v JAVAHome /d "$env:JAVA_HOME" /f

Would you by any chance entertain the idea to add this to the action so as to make boot also work on windows? Needs to figure out how to retrieve the java version at runtime.

Boot development appears to have stopped, and the project that creates these executables have been archived, with no sign of the replacement project being either ever used or active.

https://github.com/boot-clj/boot-bin

Thanks

[zharinov]

As an alternative, reg command can be called as an additional step being performed only for Windows platform

[ikappaki]

As an alternative, reg command can be called as an additional step being performed only for Windows platform

sorry, are you suggesting that this should be done as an additional step inside the SetupClojure action or should the user do this as a hack prior to calling SetupClojure? I was suggesting the first, thanks

[zharinov]

I mean, the quickest workaround possible is to add manual step that fixes Windows registry issue. Personally, I would like to make it work out of the box, but can't guarantee this as soon as possible.

[ikappaki]

I mean, the quickest workaround possible is to add manual step that fixes Windows registry issue. Personally, I would like to make it work out of the box, but can't guarantee this as soon as possible.

Sure no problem, I can have a look also but will also take me some time.

Currently it won't work even if I add this step because setup-clojure fails with an error message saying it's not yet supported on windows.

In the meantime, one can use the following powershell template to install boot:

  name: test

on:
  push:

jobs:
  unit-test:
    runs-on: ${{matrix.os}}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [windows-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.2.0
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Set up JDK
        uses: actions/setup-java@v1
        with:
          java-version: '8'

      - name: Install boot on MS-Windows
        if: ${{ matrix.os == 'windows-latest' }}
        run: |
          $env:BOOT_BIN_DIR="$HOME\.boot\bin"

          if (!(Test-Path $env:BOOT_BIN_DIR)) {new-item "$env:BOOT_BIN_DIR" -ItemType directory}
          iwr -Uri https://github.com/boot-clj/boot-bin/releases/download/latest/boot.exe `
          -outfile $env:BOOT_BIN_DIR/boot.exe
          echo $env:BOOT_BIN_DIR | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_PATH -Encoding utf8 -Append
          reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit\1.8" /v JAVAHome /d "$env:JAVA_HOME" /f
          & "$env:BOOT_BIN_DIR/boot.exe" -V

[DeLaGuardo]

I made a PR with a workaround to install boot on windows, but it doesn't work:

 D:\a\_temp\temp_1396401336\boot\bin\boot.exe -V
This application requires a Java Runtime Environment 1.7.0
The registry refers to a nonexistent Java Runtime Environment installation or the runtime is corrupted.

[ikappaki]

I made a PR with a workaround to install boot on windows, but it doesn't work:

 D:\a\_temp\temp_1396401336\boot\bin\boot.exe -V
This application requires a Java Runtime Environment 1.7.0
The registry refers to a nonexistent Java Runtime Environment installation or the runtime is corrupted.

Hi, apologies I should have made it clear that the "$env:JAVA_JOME" part of the command should be replaced with the contents of the JAVA_HOME environment variable. The $env:JAVA_HOME is how you do this on PowerShell.

Thanks,

[DeLaGuardo]

Hi, apologies I should have made it clear that the "$env:JAVA_JOME" part of the command should be replaced with the contents of the JAVA_HOME environment variable. The $env:JAVA_HOME is how you do this on PowerShell.

Thanks,

Perfect, thanks! Now I confirm this workaround works in the PR.

[DeLaGuardo]

However the workaround depends on a java version available at JAVA_HOME so the solution is not complete yet. Will try to fix it later today.