Whenever I choose to use a new program one of the factors I always take in consideration is its complexity and the difficulty of installation. In general I tend to prefer programs that are standalone and portable. The perfect program for me does not require installation and I can move it to different directories or even to a USB stick, and it still works keeping the configuration as well. If additionally the program is in Java then I’m very happy, because I can install, move and use the program freely even across different platforms.

Creating such software is not too complex for the programmer, and with very few adjustments it becomes very easy to make your software portable and standalone.

I just wrote a new article (first of a serie) that explains a technique for creating Java programs that can be distributed as single, executable files, no installation required.

Check it out at:

http://www.wikijava.org/wiki/Packing_library_packages_into_a_jar_file

I will write soon about how to automatically generate your jars like explained using ANT build files. Finally, for completeness, I’ll write an article about how jars are intended to be, without tricks. This last article will describe the build file and file structure of BatBot, because this is the way I’m implementing it.

Enjoy the reading

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