This Project was just a small project to get to know the JPackage Tool and see if I can build a JavaFx application and then turn it into a DMG (macOS) and MSI (Windows) package.
So that I can build a JAR that then gets built into the installable package I used Gradle. Gradle also manages my dependencies, like JavaFx for me.
Why do I want to do this? JPackage allows developers to create an installable package for their JAR files. The user doesn't have to explicitly copy the JAR file or even install Java to run the application. The installable package takes care of all of this.
What does Hydra do you may ask? It simply opens a small window in a random position with a short message. When you try to close the window just it will close but open two new windows in its place. This is to mimic Hydra from the greek and roman mythology, if you cut off one hydra head, two more would grow back in its place.
- Git
- JDK version 15 (I have openjdk)
- Gradle
Clone the project and open it in your IDEA.
git clone https://github.com/LuciferUchiha/Hydra.git
Execute the gradle run task in the root folder of the project.
gradle run
Execute the gradle run task in the root folder of the project.
gradle test
Just as Heracles required the assistance of his nephew Iolaus to cut off all of the monster's heads and burn the neck using a sword and fire. You will need assistance in the form of either the Task Manager on Windows or the Activity Monitor on mac.
Execute the gradle jar task in the root folder of the project.
gradle clean jar
To create a DMG package run the following command in the root of the project:
jpackage --input build/libs/ \
--name Hydra \
--main-jar Hydra-1.0.jar \
--dest build/packages \
--icon src/main/resources/luciferUchihaIcon.icns \
--type dmg \
Meaning of options:
- input: Location of the input JAR file
- name:Name for the installable package
- main-jar: JAR file to launch at the start of the application
- dest: Location where the package will be saved.
- icon: Location of the picture that we want the executable to have.
- type: What kind of installer do we want to create? This depends on the base OS on which we're running the jpackage command. On macOS, we can pass package type as DMG or PKG. The tool supports MSI and EXE options on Windows and DEB and RPM options on Linux.
The above command will create the Hydra-1.0.dmg file for us.
To create a MSI package run the following command in the root of the project:
jpackage --input build/libs/ --name Hydra --main-jar Hydra-1.0.jar --dest build/packages --icon src/main/resources/luciferUchihaIcon.ico --type msi
If you don't already have WIX toolset you will prompted to install the toolset from https://wixtoolset.org/.
Meaning of options:
- input: Location of the input JAR file
- name:Name for the installable package
- main-jar: JAR file to launch at the start of the application
- dest: Location where the package will be saved.
- icon: Location of the picture that we want the executable to have.
- type: What kind of installer do we want to create? This depends on the base OS on which we're running the jpackage command. On macOS, we can pass package type as DMG or PKG. The tool supports MSI and EXE options on Windows and DEB and RPM options on Linux.
The above command will create the Hydra-1.0.msi file for us. If you run the installer and install the application
you will find it under Program Files/Hydra.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.md for more information.
If you wish to contribute, see CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.