Java Application Deployment/Installer Options?

Question

I'm looking for advice on good options to deploy Java applications on end user systems.

Our end users are not tech savvy experts but casual computer users who can't be expected to figure out directories and version conflicts.

• Runnable jar is not practical because we need to provide VM parameters. Batch files are not practical because for whatever reason, java.exe is not on the $PATH in a huge amount of Windows system.

• Webstart is an option, but our users commonly complain that no shortcuts are created (a feature that's apparently broken), every click on the website prompts a new download, and a plethora of other issues make this option seem incredibly unprofessional to the end user.

• Many of the things one finds when googleing for Java deployments are themselves built with Java, which means they won't run either on a system with a missing or broken Java installation.

Answer 1

• If you do not want to spend any money, a popular solution is izpack.

• If you're looking for a commercially supported solution, there is install4j (Disclaimer: My company develops install4j). The installer is a Java application here as well. However, it is started by a native launcher that can download a JRE bundle from your server on the fly. You can also statically bundle a private JRE. See here for more information on JRE bundles.