[brailleblaster] Re: Contents of Distribution File
- From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:55:10 -0600
Alex,
Volunteers for anything are always welcome. So I guess you're it.
John
On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 09:56:02AM -0800, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> It is absolutely necessary in the sense that this is what users expect from a
> Mac OS X application.
>
> I would give it a 9, because although I think it is necessary from the users
> point of view, it is not necessary to get the code to execute on a Mac.
>
> I am volunteering to maintain the Mac OS X bundling part of the process if
> you all find me a good fit for this.
>
> Regards,
> Alex,
>
>
> On 2010-11-15, at 9:33 AM, Michael Whapples wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the link, I just went for a quick search about java applications
> > on Mac and found that. I have two questions arising from that:
> > * How old is that document? The current version of xcode does not come with
> > java templates. The bundling information may still be valid but one needs
> > to question it when there is out of date information in the document as
> > well.
> > * What is the reason for other projects not doing this?
> >
> > I actually find another question but not from that document. What is the
> > importance of creating an application bundle? I would suggest may be giving
> > it a rating (may be out of 10) but as we haven't rated the importance of
> > other things that may be a little meaningless on its own. What I really
> > want to stress is it may be a nice feature but is it absolutely required to
> > be able to use BrailleBlaster.
> >
> > Michael Whapples
> > On 15 Nov 2010, at 17:02, Chris von See wrote:
> >
> >> A Mac OS X application bundle is really no more than a specially-packaged
> >> directory tree, and it can contain Java class files. There's a file
> >> called "info.plist" inside the app bundle that identifies the main class
> >> to be invoked, defines the classpath, gives parameters that should be
> >> passed to that class and provides options that should be used to start the
> >> JVM. TAMC, for example, bundles everything it needs to run (including its
> >> class libraries) inside its app bundle, and stores user preferences
> >>
> >> The general structure of a Java app bundle looks like this:
> >>
> >> Application (.app)
> >> - Contents directory
> >> - - - Info.plist file
> >> - - - Mac OS directory (contains Mac OS X's Java bootstrapper)
> >> - - - Pkginfo file
> >> - - - Resources directory
> >> - - - - - Application icon file
> >> - - - - - Java directory
> >> - - - - - - - (application specific content, including "lib" directory for
> >> class libraries, core JARs, readme files, parameter files and so on)
> >>
> >> More info can be found at
> >> http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Java/Conceptual/Java14Development/03-JavaDeployment/JavaDeployment.html
> >>
> >> Of course, this may all change in a few years when Java is no longer
> >> bundled with Mac OS X, but Apple is already making changes that would
> >> allow third-party JVMs to be installed in Mac OS X and (I think) even
> >> allow applications to bundle a JRE as part of the app itself.
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >> Chris
> >>
> >> On Nov 15, 2010, at 8:37 AM, Michael Whapples wrote:
> >>
> >>> How does the Apple java application bundles relate to java applications?
> >>>
> >>> If I take eclipse as an example, I think it still is a archived bundle
> >>> with a number of directories and the application bundle, which you
> >>> extract to a location on disk. So this is similar I think to what is
> >>> being suggested.
> >>>
> >>> So here are the various ways I imagine BrailleBlaster will be started on
> >>> the various systems:
> >>> * Windows: There will be a brailleblaster.exe programme or may be a batch
> >>> script which users should run. This will automatically start the JVM with
> >>> the options we require.
> >>> * Linux/Solaris/FreeBSD/other unix system: A shell script will be present
> >>> which the user runs. Again this will start the JVM with all required
> >>> options.
> >>> *MacOSX: In the BrailleBlaster folder, along with the bin, lib, and so on
> >>> folders there will be a brailleblaster application bundle, users should
> >>> run this and it will start the JVM with all required options.
> >>>
> >>> Unless the Java code and liblouis/liblouisutdml libraries can be put
> >>> inside an application bundle I don't see anything wrong with what was
> >>> originally suggested.
> >>>
> >>> Please correct me if I have things all wrong, I am still fairly new to
> >>> MacOSX and would appreciate it if those more knowledgable were to help me
> >>> understand it.
> >>>
> >>> Michael Whapples
> >>> On 15 Nov 2010, at 15:37, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hi John,
> >>>>
> >>>> The standard Mac OS X convention that I would suggest using for the Mac
> >>>> distribution of Braille Blaster is a *.app bundle inside of a *.dmg disk
> >>>> image.
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards,
> >>>> Alex,
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On 2010-11-15, at 7:24 AM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> We should certainly look at how different platforms handle application
> >>>>> distribution. I think the zip file might be a good way to start for all
> >>>>> of them. The starter script for Mac OS X could set up BrailleBlaster as
> >>>>> a standard Mac applicationj.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> John
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 07:23:57AM -0800, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
> >>>>>> Hi John,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I disagree with this packaging scheme, at least for OS X, because OS X
> >>>>>> applications have a certain convention that they must follow in order
> >>>>>> to be run in the standard way. They are also distributed in a few
> >>>>>> standard ways.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I suggest that we look at how the different platforms already handle
> >>>>>> distributing files.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Regards,
> >>>>>> Alex,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 2010-11-15, at 7:12 AM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Here is what I think should be in the BrailleBlaster distribution
> >>>>>>> files.
> >>>>>>> They will be zip files and there will be one for each platform.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> COPYING: containing the Apache 2.0 license
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> AUTHORS: A list of authors with their e-mail addresses if appropriate
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> README: Instructions on installation, getting started, licensing and
> >>>>>>> where to get the source code
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> scripts: For starting BrailleBlaster on various platforms
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> bin directory: C libraries
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> lib directory: jar files of Java libraries used by BrailleBlaster
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> brailleblaster.jar: the piece de resistance
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The bin subdirectory will contain the following subdirectgories
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> bin: scripts and command-line tools for liblouis and liblouisutdml
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> lib: The various libraries, such as liblouis, liblouisutdml
> >>>>>>> libitex2MML
> >>>>>>> libhunspell etc.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> share: containing liblouis and liblouisutdml tables and files. This
> >>>>>>> will
> >>>>>>> enable them to find their stuff in the paths they expect.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> John
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>>>>>> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>>>>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>>>>>> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>>>>>> Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Alex Jurgensen,
> >>>>>> VoiceOver Trainer,
> >>>>>> ASquared21@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Visit us on the web at: www.vipbc.org
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>>>> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>>>> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>>>> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>>>> Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Alex Jurgensen,
> >>>> VoiceOver Trainer,
> >>>> ASquared21@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>>>
> >>>> Visit us on the web at: www.vipbc.org
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
> Alex Jurgensen,
> VoiceOver Trainer,
> ASquared21@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Visit us on the web at: www.vipbc.org
>
--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities
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