Java 16 - Packaging Tools

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Java 14 introduces a new packaging tool, jpackage based on javapackager. javapackager was introduced in Java 8 and was part of JavaFX kit. As JavaFX is split from Java from 11 version, this packaging tool is no more available in standard offering.

This new tool is developed to provide native installer for an operating system. For example, an msi/exe for windows, pkg/dmg for MacOS, deb/rpm for Linux and so on. Without this tool, developer generally share a jar file which a user has to run within own JVM.

Developer can use jlink to compress the required JDK modules to minimum modules and use the jpackage to create a lightweight image.

Consider the following example −

APITester.java

Example

public class APITester {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      System.out.println("Welcome to TutorialsPoint.");
   }   
}

Compile and Run the program

$javac APITester.java
$jar cf APITester.jar APITester.class

Output

For windows executable, you need to download WiX Toolset v3.11.2(wix311-binaries.zip) and add the toolkit to your path.

Once jar is created and path is set, put jar in a folder called lib and run the following command to create a windows MSI installer.

$jpackage --input lib --name APITester --main-jar APITester.jar --main-class APITester --type msi