Trying to integrate Launch4j in a Maven project using Alakai plugin

Question

I am trying to integrate the generation of an installer as part of a maven compilation process.

I have found Alakai\'s plugin for Launch4j. I have create a simple He

Answer 1

For how to define the main class for the shade plugin, see http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-shade-plugin/examples/executable-jar.html.

Answer 2

1. There's no config.xml, you need to configure launch4j inside your pom.xml file.
2. You could use maven-assembly-plugin, but I recommend you to use maven-shade-plugin.
3. Don't need to specify launch4j installation, this plugin works 100% maven.
4. Sure. Follows the shade and launch4j configs I use, that generates two exes, one console and one gui, using different main classes:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.4</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>shade</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
    <configuration>
        <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached> <!-- Make the shaded artifact not the main one -->
        <shadedClassifierName>shaded</shadedClassifierName> <!-- set the suffix to the shaded jar -->
    </configuration>
</plugin>

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.bluestemsoftware.open.maven.plugin</groupId>
    <artifactId>launch4j-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.5.0.0</version>
    <executions>

        <!-- GUI exe -->
        <execution>
            <id>l4j-gui</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>launch4j</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <headerType>gui</headerType>
                <outfile>target/app-gui.exe</outfile>
                <jar>target/${artifactId}-${version}-shaded.jar</jar> <!-- 'shaded' is the value set on shadedClassifierName above -->
                <errTitle>App Err</errTitle>
                <classPath>
                    <mainClass>package.AppGUI</mainClass>
                </classPath>
                <icon>src/main/resources/icons/exeIcon.ico</icon>
                <jre>
                    <minVersion>1.5.0</minVersion>
                    <maxVersion>1.6.0</maxVersion>
                    <initialHeapSize>128</initialHeapSize>
                    <maxHeapSize>1024</maxHeapSize>
                </jre>
                <versionInfo>
                    <fileVersion>1.0.0.0</fileVersion>
                    <txtFileVersion>1.0.0.0</txtFileVersion>
                    <fileDescription>Desc</fileDescription>
                    <copyright>C</copyright>
                    <productVersion>1.0.0.0</productVersion>
                    <txtProductVersion>1.0.0.0</txtProductVersion>
                    <productName>Product</productName>
                    <internalName>Product</internalName>
                    <originalFilename>App.exe</originalFilename>
                </versionInfo>
            </configuration>
        </execution>

        <!-- Command-line exe -->
        <execution>
            <id>l4j-cli</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>launch4j</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <headerType>console</headerType>
                <outfile>target/app-cli.exe</outfile>
                <jar>target/${artifactId}-${version}-shaded.jar</jar> <!-- 'shaded' is the value set on shadedClassifierName above -->
                <errTitle>App Err</errTitle>
                <classPath>
                    <mainClass>package.AppCLI</mainClass>
                </classPath>
                <icon>src/main/resources/icons/exeIcon.ico</icon>
                <jre>
                    <minVersion>1.5.0</minVersion>
                    <maxVersion>1.6.0</maxVersion>
                    <initialHeapSize>128</initialHeapSize>
                    <maxHeapSize>1024</maxHeapSize>
                </jre>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

Alternatively, You can omit the 'jar' tag on launch4j-plugin and remove the extra configs of the shade-plugin, but be aware that this will replace the main jar of the flow (without embedded dependencies) by the shaded jar (with embedded dependencies), and this one will be installed on your local repo, or used in the reactor if needed.