java - Is there a mechanism to distribute an app with its own JRE?

Question

These fine folks are my users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ

If you don't want to enjoy the video here is the gist: my users can't tell between a file and a folder, between a browser and a web site.

I need to create a Java web app (Tomcat or Jetty) and deploy it in as many of their computers, Windows and Mac.

The question is: Is there a mechanism to distribute an app with its own JRE? (in the Tcl world there are starpacks and starkits, in the Python world there's py2exe and others, that's the idea). And also, is it legal? I know the VM is open source but I'm not clear about the libraries, and I know about GNU Classpath but I don't know if all the packages are there.

I don't want to depend on the installed JRE or on the user having enough privileges to install one. On the Mac I don't want to depend on Apple (I had to switch from Tiger to Snow Leopard just to have Java 1.6, I can't put my users in that position)

Any info greatly appreciated. Thanks! jb

edit: I'm wondering if I can just paste the JRE folder under my app folder. Is that allowed?

Answer 1

We use Install4j at our workplace. It takes care of installation and installs the JRE if needed too. Its not free though. And at least the version we use doesn't provide Mac users with a bundled JRE. But as far as I was able to find out, that was due to some restrictions by Apple. Macs come with their own JRE and if your user has a Mac, its safe to assume they have a JRE installed. Although, if the JRE is an older version than the one you like, then they would have to use Software Update to check if a newer version is available and install it.