install4j

install4j is a commercial, freely distributed, portable, multiplatform and extensible graphical software that allows Java application developers to create “Java installers” for their projects, which can be distributed across multiple platforms. It generates application launchers and native installers for Java apps in no time.

Features at a glance

You should use install4j in your Java projects because its extremely easy to install and configure, generates beautiful and modern installers, integrates rich screen and action systems, supports custom applications and auto-updaters, and allows you to easily create custom screens.

In addition, install4j features a native launcher generator, advanced Java Runtime Environment (JRE) bundling, extensive i18n support for translations in multiple languages, and support for mainstream operating systems and hardware platforms (see the “Under the hood” section for details).

Its graphical user interface is easy to use and straightforward. The generated installers can include support for Pack200 and LZMA compression algorithms, Net and CD installers, log files, GUI, CLI and unattended modes, and much more.

Under the hood, availability, pricing and supported OSes

The application is written entirely in the Java programming language and uses the Java Swing GUI toolkit for the graphical user interface. It is supported on any operating system where the Java Runtime Environment is available, including all GNU/Linux distributions, Mac OS X, Solaris, BSD and Microsoft Windows.

install4j is a available for download for free as pre-built binary packages in the sh and tar.gz file formats, as well as native installers for Linux kernel-based operating systems that use either or the DEB or RPM packages. It is fully compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit instruction set architectures.

It is distributed in two editions, Multi-Platform Edition and Windows Edition. While the price for the Multi-Platform Edition of install4j starts from 1999 USD (1578 EUR), the Windows Edition can be purchased for the sum of 699 USD (553 EUR).

What is new in this release:

• Bugs fixed:
• Regression in 5.1.13: Java 6 splash screen did not work under some circumstances
• Regression in 5.1.13: Fixed "i4jinst.dll could not be loaded" on some Windows XP installations

What is new in version 5.1.9:

• Bugs fixed:
• Regression in 5.1.8: Installed JREs could not be found on Windows anymore under some circumstances
• Unix services: After terminating a service with -SIGKILL, the unix daemon did not handle the status and stop command correctly
• Mac OS X Java 7 launchers: The minimum version of Mac OS X was set to 10.7 instead of 10.7.3 as required by Java 7
• Mac OS X Java 7 launchers: The generated VM options file defined in the launcher wizard was not created under Contents/vmoptions.txt

What is new in version 5.1.8:

• Bugs fixed:
• Critical: Unix installers could delete the working directory if a CDPATH environment variable was defined and did not include the current directory
• Wide character support in Windows launchers. This solves problems with characters from outside the default code page in user home directory names
• Mac OS X: When Java 7 was used on an unsupported OS version (10.6 or lower), no warning was displayed and the installer would crash
• Mac OS X: JRE download progress was not always correct
• Mac OS X: environment variable replacement in launcher properties like class path and VM parameters did not work
• Mac OS X: .vmoptions file was placed before default VM parameters which prevented overriding
• Mac OS X: the installer variable sys.preferredJre did not include the trailing "Contents/Home/jre" directories
• Code signing: Compilation did not abort when counter signing failed
• If the system property "install4j.noLoggingFix" is set, do not initialize the logging subsystem of the JRE for launchers
• "Directory chooser" and "File chooser" form components: If the file or directory name was empty, there was a space character in the text field
• "Installation type" screen: Component folder selections were ignored in in the installer
• "Change cancel button state" action: Fixed NPE in unattended mode
• "Directory chooser" form component: Fixed NPE when pressing enter

What is new in version 5.0:

• Improved elevation of privileges on Windows and Mac OS X
• Major improvements for installer variables, compiler variables and i18n messages
• More flexible and usable IDs
• Improvements for actions that operate on files
• Launcher integration for custom installer applications
• Improvements for the auto-update functionality
• Extensive support for Windows users accounts
• Improvements for service actions
• Improved handling of custom code and resources
• Corruption detection and checksum verification for installers and downloaded components
• Support for Windows processes
• Improvements for file distribution
• Improvements for JRE bundling
• Many new actions
• Improvements for form components
• Layout groups and tabbed panes in form screens
• More flexible configuration of installer applications
• Merging of other projects allow the modularization of your installers
• Index pane for the installer that is configurable in the install4j IDE and via the API
• Support for creating Debian archives

Requirements:

• Java 2 Standard Edition Runtime Environment