Create 'native' Java applications on OS X and Windows using Maven plugins

When building a desktop application, the target audience usually expects an executable to when launching it. If the application is written in Java you have the options to create a batch file to launch it, create an executable jar file, compile the application as a native application or wrap the application using a native ‘launcher’. This post will result in a maven pom for dealing with the last option, it may be used in both Windows and OS X environments.

The pom is configured to use two different plugins depending on which operating system that is executing it.

On Windows, a Launch4j project plugin will be used. On OS X the osxappbundle plugin is used, which creates an OS X application directory structure and uses the JavaApplicationStub binary for launching the application.

The <profile> tag is used for deciding which plugin to use depending on operating system.

The pom also points out different application icons for the binaries, OS X requires the icon to be in the icns and windows in the ico) format.

The wrapped application has a main class in the file com.jayway.wrappedapplication.Launcher

The pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemalocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelversion>4.0.0</modelversion>
  <groupid>com.jayway.wrappedapplication</groupid>
  <artifactid>launcher</artifactid>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>launcher</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>windows-deploy</id>
      <activation>
        <os>
          <family>Windows</family>
        </os>
      </activation>
      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <groupid>org.bluestemsoftware.open.maven.plugin</groupid>
            <artifactid>launch4j-plugin</artifactid>
            <version>1.5.0.0</version>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <id>launch4j</id>
                <phase>verify</phase>
                <goals>
                  <goal>launch4j</goal>
                </goals>
                <configuration>
                  <dontwrapjar>false</dontwrapjar>
                  <headertype>gui</headertype>
                  <outfile>${project.build.directory}/relauncher-${project.version}.exe</outfile>
                  <jar>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.jar</jar>
                  <errtitle>Launcher</errtitle>
                  <jre>
                    <minversion>1.6.0</minversion>
                  </jre>
                  <classpath>
                    <mainclass>com.jayway.wrappedapplication.Launcher</mainclass>
                    <adddependencies>false</adddependencies>
                    <precp>anything</precp>
                  </classpath>
                  <icon>${basedir}/build-resources/win/icons/application.ico</icon>
                </configuration>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
    </profile>
    <profile>
      <activation>
        <os>
          <family>mac</family>
        </os>
      </activation>
      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <groupid>org.codehaus.mojo</groupid>
            <artifactid>osxappbundle-maven-plugin</artifactid>
            <version>1.0-alpha-2</version>
            <configuration>
              <mainclass>com.jayway.wrappedapplication.Launcher</mainclass>
              <iconfile>${basedir}/build-resources/osx/icons/application.icns</iconfile>
            </configuration>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <phase>package</phase>
                <goals>
                  <goal>bundle</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
</project>

And that’s it.