Fw: [stellation-res] Windows distribution file

["Dale Bennett" <dben@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been watching this thread for a few days and I think I have something
to add.

I have been a mainframe and unix DBA and now am a Windows based Java/Web
developer (c'est la vie!).

I don't think that Ant is a long term distribution vehicle.  I've never seen
it before and quite honestly can't be bothered learning something that helps
me install software . . . that should be taken care of!

Forgive me for being lazy but I want to learn the software not the
installer.  Please make it easy, use an installer program of some kind even
for the server installation.

Regards,

Dale Bennett.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Wright - IBM Research" <jwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <stellation-res@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 3:57 AM
Subject: Re: [stellation-res] Windows distribution file


> At 10:13 AM 12/18/2002, Jonathan Gossage wrote:
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Jim Wright - IBM Research" <jwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >To: <stellation-res@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:49 AM
> >Subject: RE: [stellation-res] Windows distribution file
> > ><snip> ....
> > > One comment: the preferred distribution format for Eclipse-based
> > > Stellation components is almost certainly an "Eclipse Feature".
> > > <snip> ...
> > > Of course, this does not apply to Stellation server components
> > > or command line client components (at least as they currently exist).
> > > (If the command-line client becomes Eclipse-based, the story may
change)
> > > But, for Eclipse client components, it seems like a no-brainer.
> > > --
> >I agree fully that this will work well for the Eclipse based client
> >components since the user will already have Eclipse installed. However
the
> >server components are more difficult since they need to modify system
> >components as part of their installation process.
>
> Yes.  I was speaking only about Eclipse-based client components.
>
> >I am beginning to think
> >that the best solution here will be to take an existing open source
> >installer and modify it to provide the additional functionality that we
> >need.
>
> As Mark said:
> >I agree that ant isn't ideal for the long term, especially for
> >installing a stellation client. (The server is less of a concern to
> >me, because there's enough of an administrative load involved in setting
> >up and maintaining a server that they'll probably need something like
> >a set of ant or sed scripts for customization anyway.)
>
> However, I'm sure that a good alternate installer would be greatly
> appreciated by
> our users.
>
> >As for the command line client, even if it uses Eclipse components (which
> >could include the update system perhaps), there is the problem of initial
> >installation where we can make no assumptions about the target
environment,
> >except for the presence of a JVM.
>
> That's a good point ... although Eclipse is shipped basically as an
> unpack-and-run
> installation.  Might it be enough, for a client, to provide a
> self-extracting archive
> for a user to unpack to a location on their path?  (Assumption: anyone who
> wants
> to use command-line tools can handle that type of installation without
> difficulty).
> There's at least one Java-only solution
> (www.javaworld.com/javatips/jw-javatip120_p.html)
> and all it requires is a JVM (well, JRE...).
>
> (This is not likely adequate for server components, of course.)
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim
>
> --
> Jim Wright, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
> *** The Stellation project: Advanced SCM for Collaboration
> *** http://www.eclipse.org/stellation
> *** Work Email: jwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------- Personal Email:
> jim.wright@xxxxxxx
>
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