[brailleblaster] Re: Contents of Distribution File
- From: Alex Jurgensen <asquared21@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:29:40 -0800
Hi Chris,
I can't speak to why Eclipse went the root they did, but I can say that
normally plugins are found in one of three places. These locations are:
1. Inside the *.app file.
2. Inside /Library/Application Support/[application name]/
3. Inside ~/Library/Application Support/[application name]/
On 2010-11-15, at 9:59 AM, Chris von See wrote:
> I'm not an XCode user, so I can't speak to why it doesn't contain Java
> templates. Java is still considered to be a first-class language on Mac OS
> X, meaning that the OS itself contains support for the language. The app
> bundle approach that's described is still in widespread use by many (most?)
> Mac OS X Java developers and is supported by other tools in the Apple
> Developer's Kit, such as Jar Bundler; I don't think that many developers are
> using Java Web Start, but according to the Apple Java developer's mailing
> list some are definitely doing that as well.
>
> The "last update" date on the page is 2010-10-20. The "Introduction" section
> referenced in the sidebar specifically mentions Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, so
> the info is pretty recent.
>
> The version of Eclipse that I have (Ganymede) includes an app bundle in the
> directory it installs into /Applications, but the plugins, etc. are outside
> of the bundle. I don't have definitive knowledge as to why, but one possible
> explanation is that an application cannot modify its own app bundle at
> runtime - that would preclude placing dynamically-installed plugins, log
> files, user-specific preferences etc. in the bundle itself. Other projects
> will do as other projects do :) and of course BrailleBlaster should do
> what's best for its particular situation. There *may* be some things that
> won't be possible if you're not packaged as an app bundle, such as placing
> the app in the Dock (you can place folders in the Dock but not individual
> files - at least not in Leopard).
>
>
> Cheers
> Chris
>
>
> On Nov 15, 2010, 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 question it when there is out of date information in the document as well.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
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