Just checked it out java web start and tried a few of the demos sun provides. Granted, it could be a little bit more seemless, but I think the big benefit is that Sun has done all the cross platform work for you. You are freed from creating custom installers for every platform you want to support.
Looking at their developer documentation, it does not seem like there is all that much work required to get a freenet node working using java web start. You create a .jnlp configuration file (XML of course) that points to a jar available via http (or ftp I believe) and provides other config options (such as JRE version). Users install java web start, and then click a link to your .jnlp file, and bob's your uncle. One big problem I might see with this is that JWS supports the 'sandbox' idea - when Java code tries to access the local harddrive the user is prompted 'do you want to allow this?' If they answer 'no' their freenet node is obviously not going to load. Although there appears to be a way around this by signing your jar files. -josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brandon" <[email protected]> To: <devl at freenetproject.org> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 8:32 PM Subject: Re: [freenet-devl] Java Web Start > > > A few months ago we looked at "Java Web Start" as a possible option for > > deployment of Fred. At the time the most serious problem with it was > > that it was still pre-release, and a complex sign-up procedure was > > required before users could get their hands on it. Since users needed > > to download it, before they could install any software using it, this > > made it next to useless. > > I don't see the advantage of Web Start since you still have to download > and install webstart and maybe download and install Java. Which is the > same as downloading and installing the installer we already have. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Devl mailing list > Devl at freenetproject.org > http://www.uprizer.com/mailman/listinfo/devl > _______________________________________________ Devl mailing list Devl at freenetproject.org http://www.uprizer.com/mailman/listinfo/devl
