Re: [stellation-res] Windows distribution file

[Dave Shields <shields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Dec 16, 2002 at 07:19:39PM -0500, Jonathan Gossage wrote:
> I have been thinking about the best format for the Windows distribution file
> for Stellation. Basically there are three options:
> 
> 1. Produce a Windows installer file.
> 
> 2. Produce a .zip file.
> 
> 3. Produce a self-extracting zip file.
> 
> The pro's for option 1 are that this is a well understood format that is
> tightly integrated with the Windows environment.
> 
> The major disadvantage is that either you need an expensive commercial
> installer generation program or you are faced with a LOT of work to generate
> a .msi file.
> 
> The main pro for option 2 is simplicity. Ant will readily generate a .zip
> file. This is also the current distribution mechanism for Eclipse.
> 
> The main disadvantage is that you require Winzip installed on the machine to
> get access to the contents of the .zip file. Winzip is frequently not
> installed on servers which is where the server component of Stellation will
> normally be installed. It also means that installation is a two step
> procedure instead of a single step procedure.
> 


Jonathan,

According to the Stellation Installation document:

  Before you can use the system, you must install it.
  We use Ant to install it.

Indeed, one of the reasons for using Ant is that it provides support
for unpacking zip files, so you don't need Winzip if you have Ant.

Though we might eventually want to support self-extracting Zip file or
Windows installer file for a client-only version of Stellation, I
think for now we can assume our users are experienced developers
familiar with Java, and probably also familiar with Ant.

I also think it a higher priority just now to add Windows support to
the Ant scripts and Firebird support for Windows (pending resolution
of the MySQL licensing issues).


thanks,
dave

-- 
Dave Shields, IBM Research, shields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.