mac vs pc - are separate .jar files required?

[Kenneth Sloan-2]

The student who set up our development pipeline (many years ago) seemed to think that it was necessary to
build separate .jar files for MacOSX and Windows.

So...we have 'ant' build.xml files that detect the OS and build to match.  Leaving us with TWO .jar files.

It seems to me that this is unnecessary, but I'm not sure (and, the student involved is long gone and I can't
ask WHY he did this.

Any guidance?  Are there possibilities of Java versions, or other inconsistencies that might make this a good idea?

One of my Windows customers just reported that "the Mac version worked just fine"

So...before I do something drastic, what is the received truth?

--
Kenneth Sloan
[hidden email]
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[John Minter]

I have not had issues with ImageJ/Fiji jar files between Windows and
MacOSX. I did recently have some issues with the NIST DTSA-II Kelvin
release on the Mac because of some changes on the MacOS side. One of
the entries in the file menu does not show up on the Mac because of
changes in MacOS. I suspect it could be launched independently from
another menu because other sub-menus work OK. MacOSX doesn't seem to
want anything unsusual in the File menu (like a Preferences menu). No
issues with Linux (Lubuntu).
On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 12:43 PM Kenneth Sloan <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> The student who set up our development pipeline (many years ago) seemed to think that it was necessary to
> build separate .jar files for MacOSX and Windows.
>
> So...we have 'ant' build.xml files that detect the OS and build to match.  Leaving us with TWO .jar files.
>
> It seems to me that this is unnecessary, but I'm not sure (and, the student involved is long gone and I can't
> ask WHY he did this.
>
> Any guidance?  Are there possibilities of Java versions, or other inconsistencies that might make this a good idea?
>
> One of my Windows customers just reported that "the Mac version worked just fine"
>
> So...before I do something drastic, what is the received truth?
>
> --
> Kenneth Sloan
> [hidden email]
> Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[Kenneth Sloan-2]

Thanks for the reply.  In our situation, the majority of the "customers" use Macs.  I develop and test on a Mac.
Only recently have I had easy access to a Windows box (which I acquired partly to  be able to build and test in a Windows environment).  

Unless I hear a strong warning otherwise, I'm going to stop maintaining the Windows .jar files and see how it goes.

If all is well for awhile, I will modify the build.xml files to remove the parts that identify the OS, and remove the "MacOSX" and "Windows" qualifiers on the released .jar files.  I'll probably leave the legacy projects as is (if it ain't broke...)  Many of these are no longer being developed, and get only the bare minimum of support.

Live and learn. I blame the lazy supervisor who allowed the (to remain nameless) student who got me into this mess in the first place.  

I suspect that the student came from a C++ environment and copied template 'build.xml' files that he found somewhere without much thought.  Of course, it all works (so why question it?) but the extra work has become tiresome.

Perhaps this will convince me to abandon 'ant' - although my main reason for hating 'ant' is how clunky it is to INSTALL 'ant' on a Windows machine.  I'd really, really, really like to distribute plugins as source and let the customers build them - but
the process of preparing a random person's Windows machine to run 'ant' was a significant barrier.  Well, that's still a problem when the random person uses a Windows machine...

So...if all I want is dirt simple "compile, create .jar file, move files to a 'release' directory", and want something that any idiot can install on either a Mac or a Windows box, what 'ant' replacement would you recommend?  What are all the cool kids using, this year?

--
Kenneth Sloan
[hidden email]
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.

> On 27 Aug 2018, at 12:44 , John Minter <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I have not had issues with ImageJ/Fiji jar files between Windows and
> MacOSX. I did recently have some issues with the NIST DTSA-II Kelvin
> release on the Mac because of some changes on the MacOS side. One of
> the entries in the file menu does not show up on the Mac because of
> changes in MacOS. I suspect it could be launched independently from
> another menu because other sub-menus work OK. MacOSX doesn't seem to
> want anything unsusual in the File menu (like a Preferences menu). No
> issues with Linux (Lubuntu).
> On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 12:43 PM Kenneth Sloan <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> The student who set up our development pipeline (many years ago) seemed to think that it was necessary to
>> build separate .jar files for MacOSX and Windows.
>>
>> So...we have 'ant' build.xml files that detect the OS and build to match.  Leaving us with TWO .jar files.
>>
>> It seems to me that this is unnecessary, but I'm not sure (and, the student involved is long gone and I can't
>> ask WHY he did this.
>>
>> Any guidance?  Are there possibilities of Java versions, or other inconsistencies that might make this a good idea?
>>
>> One of my Windows customers just reported that "the Mac version worked just fine"
>>
>> So...before I do something drastic, what is the received truth?
>>
>> --
>> Kenneth Sloan
>> [hidden email]
>> Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
>>
>> --
>> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[Jan Eglinger]

Hi Kenneth,

 > what 'ant' replacement would you recommend?  What are all the cool
kids using, this year?

The ImageJ and Fiji developers have had good experience with Maven:
https://imagej.net/Maven

Cheers
Jan


On 27.08.2018 20:32, Kenneth Sloan wrote:

> Thanks for the reply.  In our situation, the majority of the "customers" use Macs.  I develop and test on a Mac.
> Only recently have I had easy access to a Windows box (which I acquired partly to  be able to build and test in a Windows environment).
>
> Unless I hear a strong warning otherwise, I'm going to stop maintaining the Windows .jar files and see how it goes.
>
> If all is well for awhile, I will modify the build.xml files to remove the parts that identify the OS, and remove the "MacOSX" and "Windows" qualifiers on the released .jar files.  I'll probably leave the legacy projects as is (if it ain't broke...)  Many of these are no longer being developed, and get only the bare minimum of support.
>
> Live and learn. I blame the lazy supervisor who allowed the (to remain nameless) student who got me into this mess in the first place.
>
> I suspect that the student came from a C++ environment and copied template 'build.xml' files that he found somewhere without much thought.  Of course, it all works (so why question it?) but the extra work has become tiresome.
>
> Perhaps this will convince me to abandon 'ant' - although my main reason for hating 'ant' is how clunky it is to INSTALL 'ant' on a Windows machine.  I'd really, really, really like to distribute plugins as source and let the customers build them - but
> the process of preparing a random person's Windows machine to run 'ant' was a significant barrier.  Well, that's still a problem when the random person uses a Windows machine...
>
> So...if all I want is dirt simple "compile, create .jar file, move files to a 'release' directory", and want something that any idiot can install on either a Mac or a Windows box, what 'ant' replacement would you recommend?  What are all the cool kids using, this year?
>
> --
> Kenneth Sloan
> [hidden email]
> Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
>
>
>
>
>
>> On 27 Aug 2018, at 12:44 , John Minter <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> I have not had issues with ImageJ/Fiji jar files between Windows and
>> MacOSX. I did recently have some issues with the NIST DTSA-II Kelvin
>> release on the Mac because of some changes on the MacOS side. One of
>> the entries in the file menu does not show up on the Mac because of
>> changes in MacOS. I suspect it could be launched independently from
>> another menu because other sub-menus work OK. MacOSX doesn't seem to
>> want anything unsusual in the File menu (like a Preferences menu). No
>> issues with Linux (Lubuntu).
>> On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 12:43 PM Kenneth Sloan <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>> The student who set up our development pipeline (many years ago) seemed to think that it was necessary to
>>> build separate .jar files for MacOSX and Windows.
>>>
>>> So...we have 'ant' build.xml files that detect the OS and build to match.  Leaving us with TWO .jar files.
>>>
>>> It seems to me that this is unnecessary, but I'm not sure (and, the student involved is long gone and I can't
>>> ask WHY he did this.
>>>
>>> Any guidance?  Are there possibilities of Java versions, or other inconsistencies that might make this a good idea?
>>>
>>> One of my Windows customers just reported that "the Mac version worked just fine"
>>>
>>> So...before I do something drastic, what is the received truth?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kenneth Sloan
>>> [hidden email]
>>> Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
>>>
>>> --
>>> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>>
>> --
>> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html

[Curtis Rueden]

Hi Kenneth & everyone,

One of Java's primary advantages is "write once, run everywhere." You build
a particular version of the source once into a platform-independent JAR
file, and then distribute that JAR file to all your users.

If you use Maven or Gradle and push your code to GitHub, you can lean on
jitpack.io to build your release artifacts. All you have to do is make a
release on GitHub, and jitpack will build your artifact for you using your
project's build file (e.g. pom.xml).

For distributing the JAR to end users, use an ImageJ update site:
  https://imagej.net/Update_Sites

Regards,
Curtis

--
Curtis Rueden
LOCI software architect - https://loci.wisc.edu/software
ImageJ2 lead, Fiji maintainer - https://imagej.net/User:Rueden
Did you know ImageJ has a forum? http://forum.imagej.net/



On Tue, Aug 28, 2018 at 7:19 AM Jan Eglinger <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Kenneth,
>
>  > what 'ant' replacement would you recommend?  What are all the cool
> kids using, this year?
>
> The ImageJ and Fiji developers have had good experience with Maven:
> https://imagej.net/Maven
>
> Cheers
> Jan
>
>
> On 27.08.2018 20:32, Kenneth Sloan wrote:
> > Thanks for the reply.  In our situation, the majority of the "customers"
> use Macs.  I develop and test on a Mac.
> > Only recently have I had easy access to a Windows box (which I acquired
> partly to  be able to build and test in a Windows environment).
> >
> > Unless I hear a strong warning otherwise, I'm going to stop maintaining
> the Windows .jar files and see how it goes.
> >
> > If all is well for awhile, I will modify the build.xml files to remove
> the parts that identify the OS, and remove the "MacOSX" and "Windows"
> qualifiers on the released .jar files.  I'll probably leave the legacy
> projects as is (if it ain't broke...)  Many of these are no longer being
> developed, and get only the bare minimum of support.
> >
> > Live and learn. I blame the lazy supervisor who allowed the (to remain
> nameless) student who got me into this mess in the first place.
> >
> > I suspect that the student came from a C++ environment and copied
> template 'build.xml' files that he found somewhere without much thought.
> Of course, it all works (so why question it?) but the extra work has become
> tiresome.
> >
> > Perhaps this will convince me to abandon 'ant' - although my main reason
> for hating 'ant' is how clunky it is to INSTALL 'ant' on a Windows
> machine.  I'd really, really, really like to distribute plugins as source
> and let the customers build them - but
> > the process of preparing a random person's Windows machine to run 'ant'
> was a significant barrier.  Well, that's still a problem when the random
> person uses a Windows machine...
> >
> > So...if all I want is dirt simple "compile, create .jar file, move files
> to a 'release' directory", and want something that any idiot can install on
> either a Mac or a Windows box, what 'ant' replacement would you recommend?
> What are all the cool kids using, this year?
> >
> > --
> > Kenneth Sloan
> > [hidden email]
> > Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> On 27 Aug 2018, at 12:44 , John Minter <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >>
> >> I have not had issues with ImageJ/Fiji jar files between Windows and
> >> MacOSX. I did recently have some issues with the NIST DTSA-II Kelvin
> >> release on the Mac because of some changes on the MacOS side. One of
> >> the entries in the file menu does not show up on the Mac because of
> >> changes in MacOS. I suspect it could be launched independently from
> >> another menu because other sub-menus work OK. MacOSX doesn't seem to
> >> want anything unsusual in the File menu (like a Preferences menu). No
> >> issues with Linux (Lubuntu).
> >> On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 12:43 PM Kenneth Sloan <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> The student who set up our development pipeline (many years ago)
> seemed to think that it was necessary to
> >>> build separate .jar files for MacOSX and Windows.
> >>>
> >>> So...we have 'ant' build.xml files that detect the OS and build to
> match.  Leaving us with TWO .jar files.
> >>>
> >>> It seems to me that this is unnecessary, but I'm not sure (and, the
> student involved is long gone and I can't
> >>> ask WHY he did this.
> >>>
> >>> Any guidance?  Are there possibilities of Java versions, or other
> inconsistencies that might make this a good idea?
> >>>
> >>> One of my Windows customers just reported that "the Mac version worked
> just fine"
> >>>
> >>> So...before I do something drastic, what is the received truth?
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Kenneth Sloan
> >>> [hidden email]
> >>> Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
> >>
> >> --
> >> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
> >
> > --
> > ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
> >
>
> --
> ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html
>

--
ImageJ mailing list: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/list.html