Templates

Many files JavaPackager generates (the GNU/Linux startup script, the macOS Info.plist, the Inno Setup and WiX scripts...) come from Apache Velocity templates. You can replace any of them with your own.

Overriding a template

Put a template with the same path in your assetsDir. For example, assets/windows/iss.vtl replaces the built-in Inno Setup script. JavaPackager looks in assetsDir first and falls back to its own templates.

Start from a copy of the built-in template of the version you use, and change only what you need.

caution

Your templates replace whole files, so they don't get the fixes of newer JavaPackager versions. Check them when upgrading.

Built-in templates

Template	Generates	When
linux/startup.sh.vtl	The app's startup script	Always
linux/desktop.vtl	The desktop entry	Always
linux/desktop-appimage.vtl	The AppImage desktop entry	AppImage
linux/mime.xml.vtl	The MIME types file	With file associations
linux/control.vtl	The DEB control file	DEB
linux/assembly.xml.vtl	The zipball and tarball layout	Maven bundles
mac/Info.plist.vtl	The app's Info.plist	Unless customInfoPlist
mac/RuntimeInfo.plist.vtl	The bundled JRE's Info.plist	With bundleJre, unless customRuntimeInfoPlist
mac/startup.vtl	The script that asks for an administrator password	With administratorRequired
mac/entitlements.plist.vtl	The default entitlements	Signing without entitlements
mac/customize-dmg.applescript.vtl	The DMG window layout	DMG
mac/assembly.xml.vtl	The zipball and tarball layout	Maven bundles
windows/exe.manifest.vtl	The EXE manifest (administrator privileges)	Always
windows/ini.vtl	The WinRun4J settings	exeCreationTool is winrun4j
windows/why-ini.vtl	The Why launcher settings	exeCreationTool is why
windows/startup.vbs.vtl	The script that runs the bootstrap script	With a bootstrap script
windows/iss.vtl	The Inno Setup script	Setup
windows/wxs.vtl	The WiX source of the MSI	MSI
windows/msm.wxs.vtl	The WiX source of the MSM	MSM
windows/assembly.xml.vtl	The zipball and tarball layout	Maven bundles

Variables

Templates can use these variables:

Variable	Value
$info	The packager, with every configuration property ($info.name, $info.version, $info.winConfig.productVersion...) and runtime values such as $info.appFolder, $info.jarFile, $info.executable or $info.iconFile.
$StringUtils	Apache Commons Lang's StringUtils, e.g. $StringUtils.capitalize($info.name).
$GUID	Java's UUID class, e.g. $GUID.randomUUID().

Your own values

To pass your own values to your templates, use the extra map:

Maven

<extra>
    <supportEmail>support@example.com</supportEmail>
</extra>

Gradle

javapackager {
    extra = [ supportEmail: 'support@example.com' ]
}

And use them in a template as $info.extra.supportEmail or ${info.extra["supportEmail"]}.

Byte order mark

Generated files are UTF-8, without a byte order mark (BOM), except the Inno Setup script, which needs one. The templates property changes it per template:

Maven

<templates>
    <template>
        <name>windows/iss.vtl</name>
        <bom>false</bom>
    </template>
</templates>

Gradle

javapackager {
    templates = [ new io.github.javapackager.model.Template('windows/iss.vtl', false) ]
}

Velocity and shell scripts

Velocity reads ${name[@]} (Bash array expansion) as its own syntax and fails. In shell templates, wrap such lines in an unparsed block, which Velocity copies as is:

#[[
"${JVMDefaultOptions[@]}"
]]#