Recent

Author Topic: Packing Simple, Portable Mac App  (Read 4300 times)

acolburn

  • New Member
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Packing Simple, Portable Mac App
« on: May 25, 2016, 07:53:47 pm »
I've used Lazarus (and Delphi) on Windows, and now I'm trying to learn to use it on Mac OS X. I've installed it, and it's working fine (yay). I am, however, embarrassingly new to the Mac world. I can compile and run a simple app from within the IDE but I am unsure how to package it up for others to use. I'm talking about something simple--it could be a single executable file on Windows. What do I do, or what files do I select, if I want to make a portable app, something I could put on a thumb drive, and give to a Mac user to just double click and run?

skalogryz

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2770
    • havefunsoft.com
Re: Packing Simple, Portable Mac App
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2016, 09:44:52 pm »
Are you looking into applications with User interface? If yes, you need to distribute  a bundle.

Lazarus creates the .app (bundle directory for you). However it doesn't copy the executable into the bundle, but instead just creates a reference to the executable (so the app can run for you)

If you want to distribute the app, you'll need to copy the executable inside of the bundle.

...do you need instructions on how to do this?

acolburn

  • New Member
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Re: Packing Simple, Portable Mac App
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2016, 10:48:47 pm »
Thank you for you kind response to a newb  :) ... I can open up the .app bundle directory, see the folder contents, and recognize the reference to the executable. Where, within the bundle directory, do I copy the executable? The same folder as the reference (MacOS) or a different folder (like the higher level Contents folder)?

skalogryz

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2770
    • havefunsoft.com
Re: Packing Simple, Portable Mac App
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2016, 10:52:23 pm »
The same folder as the reference (MacOS). "Contents" folder should be used for any data/resource files that application needs and/or depends on (i.e. graphics, audio files, default configurations... etc).



acolburn

  • New Member
  • *
  • Posts: 14
Re: Packing Simple, Portable Mac App
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2016, 11:04:44 pm »
Thank you, skalogryz! I really appreciate you responding.

 

TinyPortal © 2005-2018