I'm using the Oracle “Self-Contained Application Packaging” tool to make a .deb file for a JavaFX 8 desktop application. The generated package file can be installed without problems on Ubuntu but then the application fails to run. The file is installed as follows:
$ sudo dpkg -i vocabhunter-1.0.14.deb
However, attempting to run the application generates the following error:
$ /opt/VocabHunter/VocabHunter
VocabHunter Failed to locate JNI_CreateJavaVM
VocabHunter Failed to launch JVM
Importantly, I'm generating a bundle without the JRE included and on investigation it seems that the problem relates to this. The generated file /opt/VocabHunter/app/VocabHunter.cfg contains the following line:
app.runtime=
If I edit this and add the path to Java, the program launches without problems. As a workaround, I've suggested that after installing the .deb bundle the user run the following command:
sudo sed -i "s|app.runtime=.*|app.runtime=$JAVA_HOME|g" /opt/VocabHunter/app/VocabHunter.cfg
However, this makes things hard for the user. Does anyone know how to fix the configuration for the JavaFX packaging tool to avoid this problem?
The build uses Gradle to call an Ant script to generate the bundle. Gradle fills in all of the necessary variables. The Ant script is as follows:
<project name="VocabHunter Packaging" basedir=""
xmlns:fx="javafx:com.sun.javafx.tools.ant">
<property environment="env"/>
<property name="JAVA_HOME" value="${env.JAVA_HOME}"/>
<target name="jfxbundle" description="Build the application bundle">
<taskdef resource="com/sun/javafx/tools/ant/antlib.xml"
uri="javafx:com.sun.javafx.tools.ant"
classpath="${JAVA_HOME}/lib/ant-javafx.jar"/>
<fx:deploy outdir="${basedir}/build"
nativeBundles="${packageType}">
<fx:platform basedir=""/>
<fx:application id="VocabHunterId"
name="VocabHunter"
mainClass="${mainClass}"
version="${version}"/>
<fx:resources>
<fx:fileset dir="${basedir}/build/libs"/>
</fx:resources>
<fx:info title="VocabHunter">
<fx:association description="VocabHunter session"
extension="wordy"
mimetype="application/x-vnd.VocabHunterSession"
icon="${sessionIcon}"/>
</fx:info>
<fx:bundleArgument arg="icon"
value="${appIcon}"/>
<fx:bundleArgument arg="mac.CFBundleVersion"
value="${version}"/>
<fx:bundleArgument arg="launcher-cfg-format"
value="prop"/>
</fx:deploy>
</target>
</project>
You can see the full script in context here.
I'm testing this using JDK 1.8.0_92 on Ubuntu 14.04.
To answer this here too, you are required to have JRE_HOME being set for running some native JavaFX launcher without having bundled JRE. On Windows it looks inside the registry and searches for HKLM\Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\[CurrentVersion]\JavaHome. I could NOT find any documentation about this.
To workaround this, you are required to "update" the app.runtime-value as part of the postinst-script being executed while installing. Something like this:
#!/bin/sh
# postinst script for APPLICATION_NAME
#
# see: dh_installdeb(1)
set -e
# summary of how this script can be called:
# * <postinst> `configure' <most-recently-configured-version>
# * <old-postinst> `abort-upgrade' <new version>
# * <conflictor's-postinst> `abort-remove' `in-favour' <package>
# <new-version>
# * <postinst> `abort-remove'
# * <deconfigured's-postinst> `abort-deconfigure' `in-favour'
# <failed-install-package> <version> `removing'
# <conflicting-package> <version>
# for details, see http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ or
# the debian-policy package
case "$1" in
configure)
echo Adding shortcut to the menu
SECONDARY_LAUNCHERS_INSTALL
APP_CDS_CACHE
xdg-desktop-menu install --novendor /opt/APPLICATION_FS_NAME/APPLICATION_LAUNCHER_FILENAME.desktop
FILE_ASSOCIATION_INSTALL
if [ "SERVICE_HINT" = "true" ]; then
echo Installing daemon
cp /opt/APPLICATION_FS_NAME/APPLICATION_PACKAGE.init /etc/init.d/APPLICATION_PACKAGE
if [ -x "/etc/init.d/APPLICATION_PACKAGE" ]; then
update-rc.d APPLICATION_PACKAGE defaults
if [ "START_ON_INSTALL" = "true" ]; then
if which invoke-rc.d >/dev/null 2>&1; then
invoke-rc.d APPLICATION_PACKAGE start
else
/etc/init.d/APPLICATION_PACKAGE start
fi
fi
fi
fi
if [ -f /etc/profile ]; then
# load special environment variables
. /etc/profile
# remove stored value in case of dpkg-reconfigure
RUNTIME_PATH_TO_SET=""
if [ -z "$JRE_HOME" ]; then
echo JRE_HOME is not set, checking for JAVA_HOME being set
if [ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
echo JAVA_HOME is not set, checking for known locations
# look for known locations
KNOWN_JDK_DIRS="/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64 /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-i386"
FOUND_JAVA_HOME=""
# Look for the right JVM to use (use the first one)
for potentialjdkdir in $KNOWN_JDK_DIRS; do
if [ -r "$potentialjdkdir/bin/java" -a -z "$FOUND_JAVA_HOME" ]; then
FOUND_JAVA_HOME="$potentialjdkdir"
fi
done
if [ -z "$FOUND_JAVA_HOME" ]; then
# still nothing found :(
echo Please make sure to have Java installed and JRE_HOME variable set before running APPLICATION_LAUNCHER_FILENAME
else
echo Updating runtime-settings using known location
RUNTIME_PATH_TO_SET="$FOUND_JAVA_HOME"
fi
else
echo Updating runtime-settings using JAVA_HOME
# JAVA_HOME is set, use that value
RUNTIME_PATH_TO_SET="$JAVA_HOME"
fi
fi
# always write runtime-location, as it might get removed again when user calls dpkg-reconfigure
sed -i "s|app.runtime=.*|app.runtime=$RUNTIME_PATH_TO_SET|g" /opt/APPLICATION_FS_NAME/app/APPLICATION_LAUNCHER_FILENAME.cfg
fi
;;
abort-upgrade|abort-remove|abort-deconfigure)
;;
*)
echo "postinst called with unknown argument \`$1'" >&2
exit 1
;;
esac
# dh_installdeb will replace this with shell code automatically
# generated by other debhelper scripts.
#DEBHELPER#
exit 0
When using the javafx-maven-plugin or javafx-gradle-plugin, put this script inside src/main/deploy/package/linux with the filename postinst to get picked up by the javapackager/bundler.
Disclaimer: I'm the maintainer of the javafx-maven-plugin and creator of the javafx-gradle-plugin
EDIT: updated script for working on dpkg-reconfigure too