I know my title sounds crazy, as right now the popular practice is to use something like Electron or nw.js for desktop applications written using web stack technologies, but here's why I'm searching for alternative desktop web runtime solutions:
- I need to minimize the maintenance of both a desktop app and web app that both behave identically, ideally by consolidating the code as much as possible into a single repository.
- BUT the desktop app can't run using chromium-backed Electron or nw.js because it absolutely must run on Centos 6, which isn't officially supported by either (and I've sufficiently beaten my head against the wall trying).
So, to minimize code paths and maximize compatibility, my options appear to be:
- Wait 2.5 years for Centos 6 maintenance updates EOL (hopefully forcing customer migration)
- Give up and deal with maintaining both a java GUI and web app as separate code entirely.
- Re-purpose my web server for local desktop execution, so that it serves the same HTML/CSS/javascript but for access on localhost in whatever browser locally installed.
- Use JavaFX and reuse (at least some of?) my javascript/css code inside a webview GUI element.
Has anyone else tried to bridge this gap to consolidate desktop apps and web apps when unfortunately Electron/nw.js aren't viable? Or does the simplification I'm searching for simply not exist?