[izpack-users] Minor nits and suggestions
Marc Eppelmann
marc.eppelmann at gmx.de
Sun Sep 10 09:47:22 CEST 2006
Hi Christopher,
It is nice to hear, that IzPack is your favorite!
But in fact, IzPack is opensource. And you are always welcome, to submit
patches that matches your needs. We all develop IzPack mostly in our free
time.
To speed up the development of your whished features,
1. read http://www.izforge.com/izpack/developers
2. you should write these in our feature request list
http://developer.berlios.de/feature/?group_id=1408
3. join us as contributor and
4. you could submit some practical patches for your needs.
5. if your patches have good quality you will be promoted to a developer.
6. from now on you can implement your and the other wished features from the
feature request list above.
Cheers
Marc
Am Samstag, 9. September 2006 21:26 schrieb Christopher Brooks:
> IzPack seems very slick. I'm glad to have found it.
>
> Several years ago I used the multiplatform version of InstallShield,
> which I found to be lacking, see my notes at
> (http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII/ptII1.0/installshield.htm#bugs)
>
> I then switched to ZeroG's InstallAnywhere, which seemed
> ok, but was fairly expensive. When Macrovision bought
> ZeroG, I decided to switch. I felt that the open source
> project I work on (Ptolemy II, http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII)
> did not need to be supporting a very closed source company
> like Macrovision.
>
> Anyway, I'm part way through setting up an installer,
> below are some very minor comments about IzPack. All
> and all, I'm very happy with IzPack. It certainly took
> less work to set up than either multiplatform
> InstallShield or InstallAnywhere. In both cases I
> had to contact support and find out about bug
> workarounds and poorly document features.
>
>
> These notes are for IzPack 3.9.0-M1, from September 9, 2006.
>
> * IzPack should be easier to use with a custom JRE. The IzPack
> native launcher will allow me to invoke the JRE installer, but
> I want to use a JRE that is in the current directory. The
> IzPack wiki
>
> (http://www.izforge.com/izpack/wiki/native_launcher_and_alternatives) (see
> also Notes about IzPack Launcher and possible
>
> alternatives(http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en.phtml?title=IzPack/Launch
>er)) describe using Launch4j. I ended up using Launch4j to create a .exe
> that invokes the jar file created by IzPack. I also used Launch4j to create
> my .exe files that are added to the Start menu.
>
> * There should be an easy way to ask the user if they want to
> invoke a binary after the installation is complete.
>
> * I'd like to add a message to the TargetPanel that describes why
> the default location in C:/Program Files won't work.
>
> * In HTMLInfoPanel, the packing seems to change depending on my
> html file. Sometimes the pane that displays the HTML does not
> fill the width of the screen. It seem like using style sheets
> causes problems here.
>
> * I'd like there to be a JREPathPanel that is like the
> JDKPathPanel. In one of the installers, I provide a custom JRE
> that includes JAI, Java 3D, Joystick JMF, JavaComm, and
> X10. I'd like to give the user the opportunity to use the
> custom JRE, or to choose their own JRE or JDK.
>
> * It would be nice if there was a way for the installer to unjar
> files on command. I provide source in a jar file, if the user
> chooses to install the sources, then that file should be
> uninstalled. The reason I use a jar file is because it makes it
> easier (faster) to build installers - my sources are a few
> thousand files, it is faster to copy one file around at
> installer build time than it is to copy lots of files.
>
> * The IzPack Developer's page
> (http://www.izforge.com/izpack/developers) should state clearly how
> to build. Yah, I know, if you don't know svn, you probably can't devel, but
> I find quick instructions useful. The instructions should point to an
> online copy of the most recent Eclipse instructions. I found the TeX docs,
> but is there an online version of the manual? There should also be a link
> to How to build the native
> launcher
> (http://www.izforge.com/izpack/wiki/building_native_launcher_
>
> Below are my partial notes about building sources
>
> Building IzPack
> 1. Download from the trunk
> svn co http://svn.berlios.de/svnroot/repos/izpack/izpack-src/trunk
>
> 2. I followed the Eclipse instructions from the IzPack 3.9.0-M1
> release. One change was that when setting up the debug, I used
>
> c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0\ptII6_0-devel_setup.xml \
> -b c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0 \
> -h c:\cxh\src\izpack\trunk
>
> Where
>
> c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0\ptII6_0-devel_setup.xml
> My IzPack configuration file, usually called
> install.xml
>
> -b c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0
> The base for my build
>
> -h c:\cxh\src\izpack\trunk
> The IzPack source directory.
>
> 3. Problems while building:
>
> No valid IzPack home directory found
> Building in Eclipse fails with:
>
> -> Fatal error :
> No valid IzPack home directory found
> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No valid IzPack home directory found
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.resolveIzPackHome(Compile
> rConfig.java:1908)
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.main(CompilerConfig.java: 1835)
> at com.izforge.izpack.compiler.Compiler.main(Compiler.java:622)
>
> The solution is to copy ShellLink.dll
>
> cp c:/Pro*/izpack/bin/native/izpack/ShellLink.dll izpack
>
> Uninstaller not found:
> c:\cxh\src\izpack\trunk\lib\uninstaller.jar
> Building in Eclipse fails with:
>
> -> Fatal error :
> c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0\ptII6_0_devel_setup.xml:18: Uninstaller not
> found: c
>
> :\cxh\src\izpack\trunk\lib\uninstaller.jar
>
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerException:
> c:\cxh\ptII\adm\gen-6.0\ptII6_0_ devel_setup.xml:18: Uninstaller not found:
> c:\cxh\src\izpack\trunk\lib\uninstal ler.jar
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.parseError(CompilerConfig
> .java:1523)
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.findIzPackResource(Compil
> erConfig.java:1488)
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.addInfo(CompilerConfig.ja
> va:1199)
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.executeCompiler(CompilerC
> onfig.java:316)
> at
> com.izforge.izpack.compiler.CompilerConfig.main(CompilerConfig.java: 1854)
> at com.izforge.izpack.compiler.Compiler.main(Compiler.java:622)
>
>
> Solution, use ant:
>
> cd trunk/src
> ant dist
>
> I'm not sure how to do this from Eclipse. Eclipse can run ant
> but the setup instructions have us include files from
> src/lib, not src.
>
>
> _Christopher
>
> Christopher Brooks (cxh at eecs berkeley edu) University of California
> Programmer/Analyst Chess/Ptolemy/Trust US Mail: 558 Cory Hall #1774
> ph: 510.643.9841 fax:510.642.2718 Berkeley, CA 94720-1774
> home: (F-Tu) 707.665.0131 (W-F) 510.655.5480 (office: 400A Cory)
>
> _______________________________________________
> izpack-users mailing list
> izpack-users at lists.berlios.de
> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/izpack-users
More information about the izpack-users
mailing list