Packaging Java Games for Linux

General Discussions
#1

I’m nearing the end of the development cycle for a Java game. I have a Windows install file set up already.

I would like to port the game to Linux and am downloading a Ubuntu Linux (which I plan to run from CD) right now.

Does anyone have any advice for packaging a Java game for Linux? Although I’ve used Linux on a handful of occaisions a long time ago, I don’t know much about. I don’t want to want to buy an expensive installer creator like Install4J, but the installer creator I’m using now (Inno Setup) is only for Windows.

One thing I’ve done is change all the files to be lowercase just in case Linux is case sensitive. Are there any other caveats I need to worry about?

I only plan to test on Ubuntu because there’s no way I can possibly test every different version of Linux. I’m guessing that anything that will run on Ubuntu will run on anything based on Debian, but I don’t have any way of knowing for sure.

#2

you could try http://autopackage.org/

#3

Yea, Autopackage is the way to go. Just be sure to put a link to the Wikipedia article next to it since many Linux users still don’t know about it.

#4

there is also http://www.bitrock.com/ can be used to create installers for multiple platforms, including windows, linux and mac.

#5

Sure but it’s far from free.

#6

Autopackage sounds like the way to go. Thanks for your help.