Back in high school days, I learned how Java programs could work flawlessly across different machines without the need for any additional compilation - Write once, run anywhere. One of our laptops had a 64-bit Ubuntu installed while the other one had a 32-bit Windows 7. I tested out on a few more platforms and realized one particular hurdle that constantly popped up: It was necessary to have Java installed beforehand, which most OSs didn't ship by default. So here's a post about how you could make your apps truly standalone.

Bundling a JRE

A bundled JRE would allow your app to run just as it would with a user-side runtime. Because of the flawless compatibility, this method is preferred by many popular desktop apps including JetBrains IDEs and Minecraft. Bundling a complete JRE has been the traditional solution for making standalone apps. There's also a variety of tools that will help you create a proper package using this method. However, it also produces the most bloated distributable, as you're bundling the entire runtime even if you use only a few parts of the standard library. Here are some of the free OpenJDK builds you can use for bundling:

There aren't many significant downsides to this, other than bloating your package size. Gradle or Maven could also be easily configured to bundle a JRE along with your distributable ZIP. One of the goals of my GSoC project was to bundle a JRE with the Terasology Launcher, so that it runs without hassle.

Customized JRE

Since Java 9, the jlink tool can be used to assemble a custom Java runtime based on your module dependencies. This would result in a minimized JRE with just enough modules to run your app perfectly. However, it's not available in JDK 8 or older, which still has a significant developer population. Nevertheless, jlink is your best bet for modern standalone Java apps that don't want any compromise with its massive ecosystem.

Helpful tools

Manual JRE bundling is a tedious job, so here are some common tools that can help you create a standalone package for your apps. These differ by the supported package formats and platforms:

  • libGDX packr: CLI tool supporting Windows, OS X and Linux. Can minimize JRE 8 and older too.
  • install4j: GUI tool supporting Windows, OS X and Linux.
  • launch4j: GUI tool for creating Windows installer.
  • parcl: Gradle plugin similar to packr.
  • javapackager: Maven plugin supporting multiple package formats like deb, rpm, msi, dmg, and zip.
  • snapcraft: Creates snap packages that can run across major Linux distros.

Other solutions

You could use a different runtime than the usual OpenJDK-based JREs. The closest one is provided by GraalVM for compiling Java bytecode directly to native binaries, although it has certain limitations. Another option might be to use IKVM.NET for running on top of CLR. If you're targetting just Android or iOS, have a look at Intel's MultiOS engine. But you can rest assured that bundling a proper JRE will have no compatibility issues on desktops. 👍️