Embed a JRE in a Windows executable?

java windows deployment executable software-distribution
perp picture perp · Feb 13, 2010 · Viewed 43.1k times · Source

Suppose I want to distribute a Java application.

Suppose I want to distribute it as a single executable. I could easily build a .jar with both the application and all its external dependencies in a single file (with some Ant hacking).

Now suppose I want to distribute it as an .exe file on Windows. That's easy enough, given the nice tools out there (such as Launch4j and the likes).

But suppose now that I also don't want to depend on the end user having the right JRE (or any JRE at all for that matter) installed. I want to distribute a JRE with my app, and my app should run on this JRE. It's easy enough to create a Windows installer executable, and embed a folder with all necessary JRE files in it. But then I'm distributing an installer and not a single-file app.

Is there a way to embed both the application, and a JRE, into an .exe file acting as the application launcher (and not as an installer)?

Answer

i_home picture i_home · Jul 19, 2012

Try to use Avian and ProGuard toolkits. Avian allows to embed lightweight virtual machine in you app. Linux, MacOS, Windows and iOS are supported. And ProGuard allows you to shrink large jar file to prepare to embed.

Related questions

How to make Java application standalone?

I have to burn a Java application on a CD. This application have to run on every Windows PC wihtout any installation (also JRE shouldn't be installed) before.

Read More
Can't start Eclipse - Java was started but returned exit code=13

I am trying to get my first taste of Android development using Eclipse. I ran into this problem when trying to run Eclipse, having installed version 4.2 only minutes ago. After first trying to start Eclipse without any parameters to specify …

Read More
Failed to load the JNI shared Library (JDK)

When I try opening Eclipse, a pop-up dialog states: Failed to load the JNI shared library "C:/JDK/bin/client/jvm.dll"`. Following this, Eclipse force closes. Here's a few points I'd like to make: I checked to see if …

Read More