IzPack is an installers generator for the Java platform that will help you create lightweight installers that can be run on any operating system where a Java virtual machine is available.

Depending on the operating system, it can be launched by a double-click or a simple java -jar installer.jar from a shell. The most common use is to distribute applications for the Java platform, but you can also use it for other kinds of projects.

The main benefit of IzPack is that it provides a clean and unique way of distributing a project to users using different operating systems. IzPack is reported to run on: Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and more.

A big care has been put in making IzPack as small as possible in order to reduce the weight of IzPack itself in the final installer archive. Also, IzPack has been designed around modularity and flexibility.

As a consequence, you are able to specify how your installer should be by selecting the panels that you want to show to the final user.

Sometimes there are even several panels for the same usage so that you can pick the one that suits the best your needs. If ever you don't find your way through the available panels, you can still develop your own ones with the nice and easy IzPack API.

NOTE: IzPack is licensed and distributed under the terms of the Apache License Version 2.0.

Here are some key features of "IzPack":

· Open source
· Cross-platform
· Customizable
· Native integration
· Build integration
· Uninstaller
· Unattended mode
· User input
· Translations
· Variables replacement

Requirements:

· Java

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Scripting support through the Apache Bean Scripting Framework
· Full console manual and automated installations
· Removal of NanoXML in favor of a javax.xml backend
· Ability to call Java classes before and after each panel
· Privileges elevation improvements
· Graphical reporting of launch-time errors
· AntActionListener improvement
· Configuration of the uninstaller path
· Compile-time variable substitutions