X11AppBundler?
X11AppBundler?
- Subject: X11AppBundler?
- From: "Michael A. Lowry" <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 17:19:29 +0100
Hello X11 Users:
There's a little program called JarBundler (previously called
MRJAppBuilder) that lets one package a Java program into a
double-clickable Mac OS X application. The benefit of doing this is
threefold:
1. The files associated with the program are all included in the Mac OS
X application bundle,
2. It's easy to launch the application (no need to go to the command
line), and
3. The application, when running, integrates well into the Mac
graphical user interface (particularly, via the Dock)
I wonder if there is a similar program for packaging X11 applications. X11AppBundler, perchance?
Previous messages on the mailing list have discussed the matter of
launching X11 applications from the Finder, but have not addressed the
larger issues of integration into Mac OS X. It's easy enough to write
a small AppleScript or Mac OS X application that starts X11.app and
then runs an X11 program. But there are problems with this approach
stemming from the fact that running X11 applications have no Dock
icon. Yes, there's a single icon for X11.app when it's running, but
there is no ability to control individual X11 applications by their
Dock icons, and it is impossible to distinguish multiple running X11
applications from one another in the Dock.
Here's how I imagine it working: there would be stub application
called X11ApplicationStub. This stub application would work
like
JavaApplicationStub. One would package up the files needed for one's
X11 application into an application bundle (e.g.
MyProgam.app/Contents/Resources/X11), and place a copy of
X11ApplicationStub in MyProgram.app/Contents/Resources/MacOS.
Info.plist could be used in the traditional way, perhaps with a new X11
dictionary for specifying launch parameters. When one double-clicked
the program, X11ApplicationStub would run, read the Info.plist file,
and run the specified application (probably contained in the bundle,
but perhaps not). If not already running, X11.app would start up and
add a new icon to the dock for the newly started X11 program, giving it
an icon if specified in the Info.plist file. I don't know much about
quartz-wm, but I imagine some tinkering would have to be done to ensure
that things like showing/hiding and window focus could be handled in a
Mac OS X-like way.
I'm actually surprised that Apple hasn't come up with this solution
already. A solution like this would make Mac OS X attractive to UNIX
software developers thinking about bringing their applications to Mac
OS X, and also to those considering to doing X11 software development
on Mac OS X.
Has anyone tried this? Is there a solution like this already? Is it
even possible? Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Michael L.
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