NetBeans IDE Installer
Author: Marek Slama,
Sun Microsystems/NetBeans
- Abstract:
- This document describes installers distributed for NetBeans release 4.2.
- Document History:
04/29/2005 : 0.1 : First preliminary version of the document
Contents:
1 Introduction
NetBeans IDE Installer installs NetBeans IDE. During installation uninstaller
is created to uninstall product.
Installer supports following platforms:
- Solaris on Sparc platform
- Solaris on X86 platform
- Microsoft Windows
- Linux
Mac OSX is exception as we do not provide standard multiplatform installer as
for other platforms but gzipped tarball distribution. It contains Mac application
structure which is recognized by Finder so that Mac users can see application
icon in Finder and can run IDE by double clicking on IDE app icon in Finder.
Uninstaller is not supported on Mac OS X. User can remove NetBeans IDE by moving
app dir to Trash.
Exact version of OS/hardware on which installer is supported/tested depends
on NetBeans IDE system requirements. Exact list of tested platforms is provided
by QA.
Installers/uninstallers run only in GUI (Swing mode). Silent or console modes are
not supported. The only exception is NetBeans IDE tar/gnuzip distribution for Mac
OS X. On Solaris/Linux Metal L&F is used. On Windows native L&F is used.
2 CVS project structure
Installer is in O/S CVS as subcomponent 'coreide' of CVS module 'installer'. It depends
on subcomponent 'lib'. It is free form NetBeans IDE project.
Directory /cvs/installer/coreide contains following files/directories:
- build directory is created when installers are built. It contains temporary files, class files, ...
- build.properties file contains IDE project properties.
- build.xml is ant build script.
- coreide.xml is InstallShield project XML file.
- dist directory is created when installers are built. It contains installers.
- nbproject directory contains IDE project files.
- ProgrammingNotes.txt contains description of ant build script, build targets, properties.
- resources directory contains resource files for installer like license files.
- src directory contains Java sources of installer.
- unix.xsl, win32.xsl XSLT stylesheet used to modify some InstallShield project properties according
to target platform.
3 Building installer
NetBeans IDE installer is based on InstallShield MP 5 SP3. Following prerequisites must be
fulfilled to build installer:
- Linux or Solaris OS
- InstallShield MP 5 SP3
- Apache Ant 1.6.2
- JDK 1.4.2_X
Following build targets are provided in build.xml:
- 'build' build English installers for 4 supported platforms
- 'build-ml' build ML (English - en, Japanese - ja, Simplified Chinese -zh) installers
for 4 supported platforms
- 'clean' delete build and clean directory and also call clean for shared library at ../lib
Build script uses NetBeans IDE uncompressed build, storage builder jar and some other data file
as input for building installers. File ProgrammingNotes.txt contains description how to set
these input files.
4 InstallShield project description
Product tree consists of 3 elements:
- Root node 'beanProduct'. It defines whole product and is parent of all nodes in product tree.
- NetBeans IDE component 'beanCoreIDE'.
- NetBeans IDE files and file 'netbeans.desktop' used as template to
create desktop icon in Gnome Window Manager (Linux/Solaris)
- PostInstallFixup action performs tasks after installation/uninstallation.
- Desktop Icon creates/removes desktop icon on Windows.
- Programs Menu creates/removes items in Programs menu on Windows.
- Storage Builder component 'beanStorageBuilder'.
- Storage Builder files
-
Storage Builder action runs storage builder during installation. Storage
builder is run as separate process. Shell script (Linux/Solaris) or batch file (Windows)
is started from installer. Script starts Java process which runs storage builder.
Installer waits till script finishes. Progress bar is also updated according to storage
builder progress. Estimation is computed from disk usage used by temporary files
generated by storage builder.
5 Installer sequence
Installer sequence defines wizard panels/actions which are shown/performed during installation.
5.1 Set System Properties Action
This action sets/resolves version dependent product bean properties. It is done to keep all version
dependent properties at one place. It also disable storage builder component (ie. storage builder
will not run during installation) on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME. (It is done to avoid
problems with running batch file on these OS versions.)
5.2 Welcome Panel
Welcome panel informs user about product and its version which is going to be installed.
5.3 License Panel
License panel shows Software License Agreement for NetBeans IDE. User must agree
with SLA to continue with installation. There is radio button which must be selected
by user. When it is done Next button is enabled.
5.4 Install Location Panel
In this panel user can select NetBeans IDE install location. Default install location is at user
home dir. User can either directly edit install location in edit box or press Browse button
to invoke file chooser dialog to select install location. This panel is subclass of
com.installshield.product.wizardbeans.DestinationPanel and it does validation
of selected install location.
5.5 Invalid Install Location
Install location is checked if it is valid. If not panel with error message is displayed and
installation will not continue. User can either return back to previous panel and enter valid
install location or user can cancel installation.
There is ValidInstallLocationCondition to check validity of install location.
5.6 JDK Search Action
This action looks for installed JDKs with version greater or equal to 1.4.2.
On Linux/Solaris it looks at default locations. On Windows it looks at registry.
5.7 JDK Selection Panel
It shows list of JDKs found by JDK Search Action. User can select JDK which will
be used by IDE. IDE configuration file netbeans.conf is modified. User can also
use Browse button to invoke directory chooser to select JDK installation not found
by JDK search action.
5.8 Install Check
It performs standard InstallShield checks on target machine like free disk space
check. It displays panel with error message when any of check fails. If checks pass
installation continues with next panel.
5.9 Pre-install Summary
It shows information about what product will be installed where it will be installed
and how much disk space it will take.
5.10 Install
Install action performs actual installation. It shows panel with progress bar.
5.11 Post Install Wizard Action
On Windows it adds info to registry below
Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\<NB UID>.
It sets display icon and install location so that NetBeans icon and NetBeans
installed size are displayed correctly in Add or Remove Programs dialog.
5.12 Post-install Summary
It informs user what and where was installed. It also shows how to run and
uninstall Netbeans IDE.
6 Uninstaller sequence
Uninstaller sequence defines wizard panels/actions which are shown/performed during uninstallation.
Uninstaller should remove all files/directories created during installation.
6.1 Welcome Panel
It informs user what will be done during uninstallation.
6.2 Pre-uninstall Summary
It informs user what and from where it will be uninstalled.
6.3 Uninstall
It informs user about uninstallation in progress. No progress bar is shown.
6.4 Post-uninstall Summary
It informs user what was done and eventually shows errors/warnings which occurred
during uninstallation. It also shows info about user dir which is not removed by uninstaller.
7 JVM resolution
Installers are built as binary executable files. Native launcher for corresponding platform is used
to start installer. Native launcher also look for JDK to run installer on. Required JDK is the same
as JDK required by IDE. JRE is not accepted as JRE is not enough to run IDE. Rules for JVM resolution
are set using InstallShield text jvm files. JDK versions are searched in following order (applies to
Sun JDK as currently no other vendor provides JDK version > 1.4.2, though we do not require any specific
vendor in JVM search instructions):
- JDK 1.5.0_X
- JDK 1.4.2_X
- JDK 1.6.0_X
Following JDKs (in alphabetical order) are accepted
- Linux
- Blackdown JDK 1.4.2
- IBM JDK 1.4.2
- Sun JDK 1.4.2_X
- Sun JDK 1.5.0_X
- Sun JDK 1.6.0_X
- Solaris Sparc/x86
- Sun JDK 1.4.2_X
- Sun JDK 1.5.0_X
- Sun JDK 1.6.0_X
- Windows
- IBM JDK 1.4.2
- Sun JDK 1.4.2_X
- Sun JDK 1.5.0_X
- Sun JDK 1.6.0_X
Search instructions contain some generic and some platform specific hints to locate JDK installed
in system. Generic hint is list of typical (default) locations of JDK called path hint. Platform
specific hints are:
- Value of environment variables JDK_HOME, JDKHOME, JAVA_PATH, JAVA_HOME on Linux/Solaris
- Registry entries specific for Sun/IBM JDK on Windows
Search instruction files are shared among installer projects and are located at /cvs/installer/lib/resources
and have suffix 'jvm'.
8 Platform specific settings
8.1 Linux/Solaris
Default L&F is set to Metal L&F. Also panel background color is set to
[230,230,230] because default panel background color on JDK 1.5.0 is too dark.
8.2 Windows
Default L&F is native. It means XP L&F on Windows XP and Classic L&F on Windows 2000 and
older.
