Creating a MSI for Java code

Question

We have written a bunch of Java code and need to package this code in MSI so that we can deploy on user's Windows machines. The MSI should:

Install our class files at appropriate location
It should also add a task in Windows task scheduler

I was looking at http://www.advancedinstaller.com/. It seems to be the perfect tool for my case, except it's not free to add the scheduled tasks in the MSI. I will have to buy their license to use that feature, which doesn't fit into our scheme of things.

http://nsis.sourceforge.net is free and looks good but has a steep learning curve.

How do people normally achieve this? Obviously not everybody will be buying this tool. What are the other options? Are there any other such free/open source tools?.

EddieBytes · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-29 14:56:26Z

3

I believe the Advanced Installer guys are known to offer discounts for such cases, try contacting them by email.

Regarding NSIS, it depends on how much effort you're willing to put in the maintenance. From the same category, there's also WiX. Also steep learning curve.

Installer kits are usually something you edit once a month or once every new version of your product. I find that in between those periods I tend to forget stuff, so having an intuitive and easy to use editor definitely helps, and free tools aren't really known for that.

answered Nov 29, 2011 at 14:56

EddieBytes

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pavanlimo Over a year ago

So basically I have no options left. Surprising, specially since this is sounds like a common scenario.

DevinBM · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-30 17:50:16Z

0

One benefit of NSIS is that is has a wiki that covers most of the basic and some advanced topics needed for the language. It is quite powerful, but EddieBytes is correct about the learning curve.

I started using it for my package and application installation needs a while back. It took a little bit to get moving, but once I did it became my preference.

Here's the NSIS wiki

answered Nov 30, 2011 at 17:50

DevinBM

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