Version 0.2.2 released Changes:

Installer:

• Experimental support for Network installations. The installer tries to get files from an url if that file is not in the archive.
  
• Dialog windows are now centered on the installer frame.
• modified screen layout for the classpath card.
• Auto conversion for text files. Text files are now read and written line-by-line instead of just copying them.

Builder:

• The format of file list has changed. The first file on each line gives the type of this file. This is a t for text files and b for binary files.
• Changes for network install support. You can specify which packages should be taken from a given URL and you can create an installer that only contains files that are not to be loaded from that URL.

Version 0.2.1 released Changes:

Installer:

• The uninstall methods of the current Installables now seem to work.
• The installer did not save files before overwriting with a templates. Fixed.
• The installer now parses the checksum field from the file list.
• Java 1.1 somtimes throws an 'EOFException' while reading the end of a zip input source. This sometimes caused te installer to create a bad file.
• better layout for the file chooser.
• changed the default font to "Dialog".
• better layout for the MessageDialogs.
• Added jvm options to the system card. The user can now choose if he wants to use the jre or the java executeable and whether or not use the "console version" (windows, not tested)

Builder:

• The installer generates an SHA-1 Message Digest for each file in the Archive.
• You can now edit properties for diffrent languages.
• The build log can now be saved to a file.

Mailing list available.

There are two mailing list available you can subscribe to if you are interested in this software.

LiftOff-users is a public list, intended for general discussion on LiftOff.

You can subscribe to LiftOff-cva to receive messages on cvs changes.

Andreas

Moved the webpages to Sourceforge

The web server at Sourceforge is much faster and reliable than that at the old location.

You will find the new pages at

http://liftoff.sourceforge.net

The group page for liftoff is

http://sourceforge.net /project/?group_id=2743

Version 0.2.0 released

Changes:

Installer:

• the installer now runs on Solaris with JDK 1.2.2
• if the application does not depend on any libraries, the message on the classpath card will show this.
• the user can not deselect required packages anymore.
• the type panel on the hello card will be hidden if there are no installation types defined.
• the language checkbox is now initialized with the Java default language.
• all installer classes and files are now written to zip archive
• really fixed Version number bug.
• installer now runs with JDK1.2.2 on Solaris 2.7 (aka SunOS 5.7)
• comparation between version numbers was wrong if one number contained a letter.

Builder:

• templates were stored with the location and package of the the target file. This caused the installer to warn about an already existing file.
• the builder now uses now a modified Version of 'ZipOutputStream' and 'ZipEntry' from the libgcj package. No external zip program is required anymore and writing the archive takes half the time now.
• the builder will not load arbritary files as dist files anymore
• the package is now set correctly for new installables
• filenames in a dist file are now stored relative to the build directory.
• added an boolean editor to the builder
• compiles on Solaris with JDK1.1.5 or JDK1.2.2

Version 0.0.1 released

This version fixes a number of bugs,

• removed most debug messages from the installer.

• fixed some installation problems.

• there is now a log screen that displays which files are added to the archive and to display any problems.

• added conditions to the substitution filter:
  @if@<varname>=<text>@ ... some text ... @endif@
  inserts the text between @if@..@ and @endif@ iff the value of the variable <varname> is equal to <text>

  @ifn@<varname>=<text>@ ... some text ... @endif@
  inserts the text between @if@..@ and @endif@ iff the value of the variable <varname> is not equal to <text>
  Both constructs may be nested.

• added a "readme" card that will be shown when the installation is finished. This file is handled as an Template, you can use variable substitutions and conditions.

• only the locations realy needed are shown on the installer's destination card.

• The loader class now searches the classpath to find itself instaead of just looking into the current directory.

• added missing Makefiles to the self-extracting archive

• changed location for installer ".class" files, they are now installed in "src" instead of "data".

• fixed Makefile.inc.in for Solaris.

Version 0.1 released

Changes to the previous version :

• There is now GUI program to create installation archives and self extracting Java classes.
• You can now get the sofware as self extracting archive. Note however that this is very experimental. Feddback wellcome.
• Many bugfixes.

Version 0.0 released First public release.

This version is pre-alpha, it lacks many features and essential systems are not supported (Windows). See the ToDo-list for more informations.

If you try this software and succeed/fail, please let me know ! The main reason for this release is to get some feedback from YOU.

If you want to try this anyway, please note :

• The package names will change soon. I need to choose a domain for this. There are some alternatives i consider.

• If you want to contribute, you are wellcome.

• If you try the installer on a system that is not Linux or Solaris, the installer will die with an null-pointer exception. (There will be a dummy os class later)

  The workaround for this is to add an entry to the file installer/os.properties (Unix) or to add a Class for your OS. In any case, please send me your patches.

• I just added some "dummy"-Windows support. Do not expect this to work. At least the template for batch files is missing.

• There is no documentation at this point, some (but not all) sources have javadoc comments in it. Please run javadoc yourself.

  I decided not to include javadocs in any release to reduce the size of the distribution, everybody will get the source so he can run javadoc himself.

  There will be a manual someday. but there is nothing readable yet.

• There are some classes that are loaded dynamicaly at runtime. If you compile the installer without make, these classes are not compiled automatically. Have a look at the directory installer/os .

• If you want to modify the class installer.items.SubstFilter you'll need Jlex, a lexer generator for java.

Have fun -