Hi Rachel,
Thank you for your feedback. I created
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8230668 record to track work on
your suggestions.
- Alexey
On 9/5/2019 8:50 AM, Rachel Greenham wrote:
(Sorry for non-threading, i read the digest)
As you've been lacking feedback from people using the jpackage EA
builds, here's mine FWIW.
I've been quiet because it's been working well enough for us. That
said, our needs and process probably simplify matters in that:
1. We're only producing Windows installers
2. We've been lucky in having patient clients during this
post-webstart, post-javapackager disruption.
3. We were happy to modify our versioning to match Windows standards
4. Our application is non-modular
5. We do it in three steps: jlink to make a JRE, then jpackage to make
an app image, then jpackage again to make both an exe and msi
installer based on that image. (client slow to reply which one they'd
actually prefer!) Not trying to do everything in one step.
Since the fix that made new versions of our app correctly replace
older ones I've mostly just been testing new EA builds to make sure
they don't break it! They do sometimes, usually because of changes in
the parameter names, and of course we lost our Inno Setup
customisations. I haven't yet made any attempt to customise the EXE
setup installer since then.
Would be nice:
1. For it to use the supplied app icon for the installer, or be able
to supply another specifically for the installer. For it to be shown
in the installer in some fashion. Other exe customisations of
straightforward branding and/or flags to control what questions
they're asked would be very nice.
2. For it to be able to sign the installer in the fashion of, or
actually using, signtool. (Ideally internalised as installing signtool
itself is a pain.) Currently that's an extra step after the installers
are built
But I can wait for them, I want it in a release so I can use it via
ToolProvider rather than execing an external JDK. All the while it's
the way it is it massively complicates the build.
Later would-be-nices, not for this desktop app, but ability to use it
to package background service-type apps, as a service for windows,
using launchd for osx, and systemd for linux.