Open Source installer toolkits?

[Simon Brooke]

I have used the AntInstaller toolkit to build installers for my products
for a long time, and liked it; but it hasn't been maintained since 2007
and doesn't seem any longer a live project. So I'm looking round at
alternatives, and it seems a lot of the open source Java installer
toolkits have died, or at least aren't being actively maintained.

I've looked at
http://antigen.sourceforge.net/ (last release 2005)
http://www.izforge.com/izpack/ (disappeared altogether)
http://liftoff.sourceforge.net/ (alpha release, 200)
http://packlet.sourceforge.net/ (2003)
http://vainstall.sourceforge.net/ (2005)

What I need is something which generates an executable jar file, which,
when run, prompts the user for configuration parameters, install
directory and so on, and then unpacks the right components and puts them
in the right place(s). It has to run cross-platform - a Windows-only
solution is not what I want!

So what have I missed? What is everyone using these days?

 

[markspace]

So what have I missed? What is everyone using these days?

One obvious idea is Java Web Start. If this doesn't suit your needs, it
would be good to know why, since that might help us narrow down your
search for you.


<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/deployment/webstart/index.html>

 

[Steve Sobol]

I have used the AntInstaller toolkit to build installers for my products
for a long time, and liked it; but it hasn't been maintained since 2007
and doesn't seem any longer a live project. So I'm looking round at
alternatives, and it seems a lot of the open source Java installer
toolkits have died, or at least aren't being actively maintained.

I've looked at
http://antigen.sourceforge.net/ (last release 2005)
http://www.izforge.com/izpack/ (disappeared altogether)
http://liftoff.sourceforge.net/ (alpha release, 200)
http://packlet.sourceforge.net/ (2003)
http://vainstall.sourceforge.net/ (2005)

I use InstallJammer (www.installjammer.com), which is not Java-specific
but has a couple nice Java-related features. It's written in Tcl and is
cross-platform.

 

[Simon Brooke]

One obvious idea is Java Web Start. If this doesn't suit your needs, it
would be good to know why, since that might help us narrow down your
search for you.

<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/deployment/webstart/index.html>

What I'm distributing is (primarily) webapps; typically the installer
unpacks the war, rewrites the configuration in the web.xml and related
files with options chosen by the user, initialises the database using
credentials supplied by the user, and then repacks the war for deployment
on the server. I've no idea whether Java Web Start would do this - I've
frankly not considered it!

 

[Simon Brooke]

I use InstallJammer (www.installjammer.com), which is not Java-specific
but has a couple nice Java-related features. It's written in Tcl and is
cross-platform.

Thanks, I'll look at it!