How best to deploy my XUL app?

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+3 Q:

How best to deploy my XUL app?

I have a xul app that I think would be useful, and I want to deploy it. The target platform is Linux; I believe it will work on Windows/OSX as well but haven't tested. What is the best way to deploy this app?

Is using xpi packages and requiring the user to install xulrunner separately the way to go?
If I bundle xulrunner, should I keep it local in my program's directory or should I install it in /usr/bin or wherever?

I realize this is two questions, but I think they're related...

Thanks, Nathan

+1 A:

I deployed an XULRunner based application during the 1.8 to 1.9 transition on Windows. It used XUL, and had some DLL based XPCOM components. The best way for making sure that you have something which will work 'out the box' is to bundle everything - the runtime and the application - into one install. There might be some duplication, but it's probably not worth the effort of sorting it out given the number of people who will already have XULRunner installed on their machine. It certainly wasn't for us (we were the first XULRunner app on BOWMAN kit). But you can also provide the xpi as a courtesy for advanced users, if you feel like it.

Pete Kirkham 2009-02-13 20:07:32

So does this mean I'll have to write installers for Windows and MacOS separately despite not using those OSes?

Nathan 2009-02-14 16:27:16

If you want to allow non-expert users to use your application on those OSes, then you need to provide them with installers. Otherwise you are limited to people willing to download an extra runtime just for your app.

Pete Kirkham 2009-02-15 14:07:37

That's too bad; I'm willing to write and distribute my app for free, but I'm not willing to build, test, and maintain installers for OSX and Windows (especially because I don't even have a license for either Vista or OSX to test it on). Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Nathan 2009-02-16 01:35:17

Bundle it - that's the recommended method from Mozilla (for now) - and you can make it more user-friendly.

Perhaps someday there will be a great tie with Firefox's xulrunner executable, and you can piggy back off of it. But that day is not today.

pc1oad1etter 2009-02-13 22:10:46

I think that day may actually be today, since you can run xulrunner apps using Firefox 3.0, but I don't think it's recommended.

Nathan 2009-02-14 16:26:15

Because it is not (yet) a "great tie". Yes, there is a -app flag on Firefox, but it's not to a position in which devs are recommended to use that as a deployment method. Definitely a step in a good direction though! It is a tough nut to crack though.

pc1oad1etter 2009-02-14 19:18:07

ansaurus

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