I am thinking there are two distinct cases:
- when user will benefit from being J platform awareness:
this means installing J first and then using either just
JAL Packge Manager to automatically pull the addon directly
from the web. Writing and publishing an addon is
a fairly easy process.
http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/JAL/Package_Manager
Also one J is installed, it becomes its own runtime
that can be configured to run applications with single
click directly from the Web.
http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Guides/Auto_Start
- make it as a stand-alone application for
regular distribution, which should comply
with industry practices, and that means
creating proper installers
This does not mean that it cannot be automated
with a J tool such as Project Mananger
I don't have a good feeling about the idea of
bundling installations onto J executable, although
it seems like an attractive proposition, but as it
was discuseed earlier in this forum there are many
technical problems with it, it will mean re-implementing
the logic of existing well-working install tools
and partially the platform support for installations,
which will result in limited features and bugs.
There are some conceptual problems with it, too.
If J.exe is on top of the bundle, then it must
not be inside the bundle, so it this means the
bundle will be attached to it all the time?
It needs to know when it is executed as
installation, and when as regular run-time.
Will it mean modifying the executable? Nicht gut.
There are perception issues: users are weary
of running an executable directly off of distribution
location, e.g. web site. They expect to deal with
installer first, or at least an archive that
they can unpack themselves.
--- Raul Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 3/25/07, Oleg Kobchenko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > There are a few things to consider, when it comes
> > to producing a setup.
> > - should it be simple or should it have a certain
> > set of essential features
> ...
>
> Since it's not clear which post(s) you are responding to,
> I figured you might be responding to mine. If so, here's
> a clarification:
>
> In my proposal (where a J executable can contain its fixed
> startup script, and potentially other fixed resources), the only
> installation work needed would be to drop the file on the system.
>
> Hypothetically, the only OS specific element of preparing such
> an executable would be the appropriate pre-generated
> executable for the target platform. In other words, you could
> generate linux/mac/windows executables from any of the
> three platforms (though if you are using OS specific features,
> such as file access, you should somehow arrange for testing
> on each target platform).
>
> Hypothetically, you might also need to support user
> defined configuration -- and, hypothetically, that
> could be stored in the same directory as the executable
> using a name derived systematically from the executable''s
> name. Here, the program should be expected to treat the
> case where this file is missing as identical to the case
> where the file is in it's default (perhaps empty) condition.
>
> Ok, if you like, you could also wrap such an executable
> with an installer for only one platform (which is your native
> platform). Or you might have a full fledged multi-platform
> development system where you generate and test a
> native install package on each of the three platforms. For
> those cases, my proposal would have little value.
>
> But, for those of us who haven't bought a machine to
> run each OS, or who just want a single file executable,
> I think my proposal has some advantages. (Along with
> a downside: it won't work with the current implementation
> of J, and would need to be supported by ISI before it
> would work in future versions of J.)
>
> --
> Raul
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>
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