Creating Bundle for Java 7 jar file on MacOS manually

java, macos

Solution

Okay - it took some figuring but there were a number of issues. Ultimately, I recompiled my own JavaAppLauncher from the app bundler source and stepped through it in Xcode (so much for helpful documentation!). https://java.net/projects/appbundler

The JDK reference seemed to be wrong, so removing the JVM Runtime key `<key>JVMRuntime</key> <string>jdk1.7.0_17.jdk</string>` helped here.

The Java directory needed to be at the Contents level, not Resources.

GUITest.app/
    Contents/
        Info.plist
        PkgInfo
        MacOS/
            JavaAppLauncher
        Resources/
            GenericJavaApp.icns
        Java/
           gui.jar

After fixing these issues, despite two separate applications showing identical `diff`s, one worked while the other showed error `-1080`(!). Removing the extended attributes solved the problem: `xattr -lr GUITest.app`.

see also the java.net page on Packaging: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/jweb/packagingAppsForMac.html

Problem

I'm reading through documentation and have created an app bundle (using Finder, Terminal and TextEdit) as follows: ``` GUITest.app/ Contents/ Info.plist PkgInfo MacOS/ JavaAppLauncher Resources/ GenericJavaApp.icns Java/ gui.jar ``` However when I try double clicking on the finder, the icon has a "no entry" sign on it, and when I double-click, I get: `The application "GUITest" can't be opened. -10810` If I try kicking off the JavaAppLauncher manually: `./GUITest.app/Contents/MacOS/JavaAppLauncher` I get a dialog with "`JRELoadError`" The Info.plist seems pretty straightforward. PkgInfo is just `AAPL????` and the JavaAppLauncher is from the http://java.net/projects/appbundler/downloads/download/appbundler-1.0.jar Could these problems be down to a bad `Info.plist` or something else? Here is the Info.plist: ``` <?xml version="1.0" ?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key> <string>English</string> <key>CFBundleExecutable</key> <string>JavaAppLauncher</string> <key>CFBundleIconFile</key> <string>GenericApp.icns</string> <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key> <string>gui.GUITest</string> <key>CFBundleDisplayName</key> <string>GUITest</string> <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key> <string>6.0</string> <key>CFBundleName</key> <string>GUITest</string> <key>CFBundlePackageType</key> <string>APPL</string> <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key> <string>1.0</string> <key>CFBundleSignature</key> <string>????</string> <key>CFBundleVersion</key> <string>1</string> <key>NSHumanReadableCopyright</key> <string>©xirt, 2014</string> <key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key> <string>public.app-category.developer-tools</string> <key>JVMRuntime</key> <string>jdk1.7.0_17.jdk</string> <key>JVMMainClassName</key> <string>main.GUITest</string> <key>JVMOptions</key> <array> </array> <key>JVMArguments</key> <array> </array> </dict> </plist> ``` Note: the no entry sign was removed by removing the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute: `xattr -d com.apple.quarantine JavaAppLauncher` But the problem still occurs: ``` $ open ./GUITest.app LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -10810 for the file /Users/.../GUITest.app. ``` The error above can be re-created if the process simply fails. For example, replacing JavaAppLauncher with the following shell script reproduces the problem: ``` #!/bin/bash return -1 ``` So, I suppose I have to look at why `JavaAppLauncher` fails...

Original source