Javapackager tool from command-line on OSX?

Question

javapackager and javafxpackager don't seem to be recognised on the command line for me. They don't show up in the terminal, even after I installed the latest 1.8 SDK. (Even 'echo $JAVA_HOME' seems to be drawing a blank, though java -version seems to work fine.)

If I look under /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_91.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/ I can see the javapackager and javafxpackager tools are present, but if I follow /usr/libexec/java_home back to it's origin in /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/A/Commands/ , there's no sign of them.

The only other discussions I could find on the subject were a blog post and mailing list from about a year and a half back: https://devreboot.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/java-desktop-app-packaging-automation/ http://lists.apple.com/archives/java-dev/2015/Nov/msg00009.html

I realise OSX hasn't come with java 'by default' for some time, but that's kinda why I was hoping to release my application as a self-contained bundle with it's own VM. Would it be standard procedure to update my bash profile to point at the tool explicitly? Is there something screwy about my personal setup, or is there some gap in the tool support on OSX?

PS: I realise there's an older thread on this subject below: What is the best way to deploy JavaFX application, create JAR and self-contained applications and native installers

However, that describes javapackager as a .jar file, and whatever I've got doesn't seem to be a .jar file. I'm legitimately confused about what I'm supposed to do with it.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone for the tips- I think I have enough info to go on for now.

Answer 1

You could try this gist for building, packaging and running a test install on Java client apps from the OS X command line. No guarantees it will work for you, it was just something I whipped up for personal development purposes a long time ago. But, the info in there may help in resolving packager tool locations from the command line and also in performing other packaging related functions.

The key part for locating (and using) the javapackager is:

# select java version
export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8`
$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version
...
# make an executable jar file
$JAVA_HOME/bin/javapackager -createjar -srcdir . -appclass start.HelloWorldSwing -srcfiles HelloWorldSwing.jar -outdir . -outfile HelloWorld.jar

# package the jar and java runtime as a native application with installer
$JAVA_HOME/bin/javapackager -deploy -srcdir . -srcfiles HelloWorld.jar -outdir . -outfile HelloWorld -appclass start.HelloWorldSwing -native -name HelloWorld

Note, the above is for packaging a Swing application. Packaging a JavaFX application will use slightly different command line options for the packager.

Doing things this way from command line scripts is decidedly old school, usually maven or gradle is used.

My personal preference would be to just use Ant, but I guess that's only slightly less old-school?

Yes, not that there is anything wrong with that. Documentation on using Ant to package java client applications is provided by Oracle.