Question

I’m currently building a desktop java application in a very clumsy manner. The application is deployed on Windows, Mac and Linux. Here’s my build process now:

On Windows:

• Update local repository
• Fire up Eclipse
• Refresh the project
• Double click the .jardesc file to generate an executable jar file
• Commit the executable jar to source control
• Open up the .nsi script and click the build button (I have NSSI plugin installed) to produce the .exe installer
• Upload installer to ftp server to publish

On Mac:

• Update local repository
• Run shell script to generate .dmg file using .jar in source control
• Upload to ftp server to publish

On Linux:

• Update local repository
• Run shell script to generate .deb file using .jar in source control
• Upload to ftp server to publish

I’d also like to include some extra steps in my build in the future, such as:

• Setting build date
• Setting the HEAD git commit-id
• Performing some code obfuscation

Any suggestions on how I can streamline and speed up this process?

Answer 1

If you are serious about having a good build system, then I’d recommend learning and using Maven, which provides:

• Comprehensive project build lifecycle management based on a declarative project definition (pom.xml)
• A huge range of plugins, which I expect will be able to handle all the specific build steps you require
• Very good integration with Eclipse
• Full dependency management (including automatic resolution and download of dependencies)

This is not for the faint hearted (Maven is a complex beast) but in the long run it is a great solution.