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javadeploymentdllinstallationjava-3d

Making my Java program easily distributable

I have installed the Java 3D API on PC via the exe installer, which simply created a new directory with j3dcore.jar, vecmath.jar, j3dutils.jar in a lib sub-directory and j3dcore-ogl.dll in a bin sub-directory.

Netbeans had no issues and my code compiled and executed smoothly, however once I built my project and tried to run it from the command prompt I got an UnsatisfiedLinkError saying that no j3dcore-ogl in java.library.path.

Google came to the rescue and gave me 3 viable solutions:

  • by copying the dll file into my JRE's bin directory
  • by adding the path of the dll file to the library path (java -Djava.library.path=dllpath)
  • load the dll in the program with System.load() (I couldn't get this one to work, actually)

My question is: Is there an elegant solution to this problem, that I missed?

It seems tedious that for each different PC someone would like to use this program on, he'd have to either copy the dll or add it to the library path before it can run. (Side question: How come Netbeans didn't have a problem with the dll?)

Solution

  • Edit - After re-reading your question, your issue sounds different. However I'm able to get my running like so, by just dropping all dll files in the same directory as the .bat file starting the java process:

    java -classpath ./YourJar.jar;./lib/j3dcore.jar;./lib/vecmath.jar;./lib/j3dutils.jar package.MainClass

    And that works on multiple user's PCs, so I know simply dropping it in the working directory works.

    I believe it depends on the version of Java being used - 64 bit or 32 bit. The correct dll file (of the same name) needs to be in the working directory.

    I think I was getting a similar problem when the wrong dll was being used, and it's not OS-dependent (if your 64 bit OS has 32-bit Java installed, you'd need the 32 bit j3dcore-ogl.dll file).

    So the question is, which version of Java are you using (when running outside of your IDE), and which version of the dll are you putting (if any) in the working directory? I don't need any dll files in my path settings to get this working on other's PCs, and did not use System.load(), and did NOT copy files into my user's JRE/bin directory - so I know this is possible without the 3 options you mention.