Blog from March, 2011

I am very happy to announce the availability of 2 releases of IzPack today!

The impatient can go straight to the downloads page on IzPack.org and fetch those releases.

IzPack 4.3.4-RC1

IzPack 4.3.4-RC1 is an unexpected thing. When we started working on a new codebase towards IzPack 5, we opted for not making a further release from that branch. The rationale was that our resources were limited. Nevertheless, our community proved not to be passive, and Mark Miller stepped up to backport useful bug fixes from IzPack 5 back to the 4.3 branch. Thanks a lot to him for the great work!

This release candidate will become the final release if there are no problems. Here is a list of changes in this version:

Release Notes - IzPack - Version 4.3.4

** Bug
    * [IZPACK-391] - hidden="true" for Packs does not work for TreePacksPanel
    * [IZPACK-475] - ProcessPanel is ignored in console mode
    * [IZPACK-480] - Console Install option does not invoke Process Panels
    * [IZPACK-554] - spec txt and id set without localization files shows the id in the panel
    * [IZPACK-567] - FinishPanel (SimpleFinishPanel) repaint
    * [IZPACK-596] - Ubuntu 10+ needs .desktop files to be executable
    * [IZPACK-608] - deseclect is misspelled in console installer mode for checkboxes
    * [IZPACK-610] - FinishPanel has hardcoded path for Uninstaller location
    * [IZPACK-611] - Console Installer misspelling: Install was successeful
    * [IZPACK-636] - JDKPathPanel does not work in console mode
    * [IZPACK-637] - JDKPathPanel does not work in automated mode
    * [IZPACK-645] - Null pointer exception at automated install

** Improvement
    * [IZPACK-650] - itemState change events from UserInputPanel combos unconditionally cause revalidation; behavior should be controlled by REVALIDATE attribute instead

IzPack 5.0.0-beta6

Meanwhile, work is going forward on IzPack 5. I am pleased to announce the release of beta6. It is starting to look good from my point of view. Especially, the uninstaller is now working again. You should really have a look at it on your own projects!

The git commits summary is as follows:

[maven-release-plugin] copy for tag izpack-5.0.0-beta6

Anthonin Bonnefoy (1):
[uninstaller] Test with associated fix for missing class in uninstaller

David Duponchel (3):
IZPACK-644 : IOException when launching the uninstaller
bug found by Thiessen Todd : exception when using an xi:include tag with panels.
xinclude support with xstream

Julien Ponge (25):
[maven-release-plugin] prepare for next development iteration
Disabled this non-IzPack test fixture as side-effects prevent running in parallel.
Run tests in parallel! (4 threads per CPU core)
Fixes IZPACK-645, provided by Stuart Wallis.
Merge branch 'develop' of github.com:jponge/izpack into develop
Merge branch 'master' of github.com:jponge/izpack
Merge remote-tracking branch 'codehaus/master'
Merge branch 'master' into develop
Better condition for writing uninstaller elevation data. The uninstaller still has problems though.
This helps in understanding where the issue with the uninstaller is.
Introduced a failing test to reproduce the JarMerge bug causing the addition of '/+(.*)' for single-file resources.
Could this be the fix?
Test case enhanced for missing icon files in the uninstaller.
Include img/* from the uninstaller skeleton into the real uninstaller.
Cleanups post-uninstaller woes resoultion.
Merge branch 'develop'
WTF Android?
Wiped commented out blocks of code.
Merge branch 'develop'
Included findbugs reporting.
Removed testability-explorer.
Merge branch 'develop'
Added JXR for generating cross-references.
IZPACK-650 don't validate entire panel on combobox select, author mark sipos
[maven-release-plugin] prepare release izpack-5.0.0-beta6

Rene Krell (1):
Fix for IZPACK-642

Last but not least, work on the user documentation is still very much needed. David Duponchel and others did a few edits recently, but there is still a lot of work to do.

...10 years!

I would like to end this announcement on a special note. IzPack was started 10 years ago bar a few days. It all started as a fun project for me to learn Java and try to understand that thing called opensource. I did not expect such success to be honest...

I have met lots of people along the way, and learned so many things by trials and errors. This goes well beyond technical matters. Learning how to foster a community around a pet project and make it an industrially renowned product has been a rare privilege.

I have way too many people to thank for their contributions to the project, really, so I am sure that I would offend lots of them if I started listing the outstanding IzPack developers!

Nevertheless, fostering an opensource project is not just about technical things... This is why I would still like to personally thank some people for their very very special help at some point or the other. Hopefully they know why

Thanks a lot to everyone involved in the project, and thanks to all of you for your interest in IzPack! Long live IzPack!

-- Julien Ponge, the guy who started it all 10 years ago.