'Distributing an Electron app on Windows, Mac and Linux
I've spend my weekend experimenting with Electron and this caused a few questions and dilemmas in my head.
I cloned the following Github repository to test with: electron-vue-typescript-starter
This project uses electron-builder to build the project, based on the host platform you're developing on. Since I'm developing on Windows it builds an .exe file.
Apart from the .exe there are also some other files. The following files were made by electron-builder on windows:
| win-unpacked
|--- (lots of DDL's + electron-application.exe)
--- electron-builder.yaml
--- electron-application setup 0.0.0.exe
--- electron-application setup 0.0.0.exe.blockmap
--- latest.yml
Question 1: If I want to distribute the application for public usage, what should users download? The .exe setup only? Or do they need some/all of the other files aswell?
After setting up a macOS VM I've managed to build the application for the darwin platform too. The following files were made by electron-builder on darwin:
| github
|--- latest-mac.json
| mac
|--- electron-application.app
--- electron-builder.yaml
--- electron-application-0.0.0-mac.zip
--- electron-application-0.0.0.dmg
--- electron-application-0.0.0.dmg.blockmap
--- latest-mac.yml
Question 2: What do the users need from above to use/install the application on the darwin platform?
Question 3: I haven't build the application for linux yet. But how do I distribute the linux edition? Would this be similar to the darwin one?
Note: I have read some parts of the electron-builder documentation but it it's really abstract and doesn't explain (as far as I could see) how someone would distribute the build contents.
The cleanest way would be a single .exe file for windows and a single .zip or .dmg for darwin. But what are the other files for? What should I do with them, because they are there for a reason, right?
Solution 1:[1]
For distribution, you need to provide an installer (msi) for windows user.
- You need to follow below link, which will answer all your questions.
Above tutorial also provide information about creating Debian package.
Solution 2:[2]
You will need to serve them with the entire folder contents. When they run the .exe, it references the other files to complete the installation
Sources
This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Source: Stack Overflow
| Solution | Source |
|---|---|
| Solution 1 | Rohan J Mohite |
| Solution 2 | Mpwanyi Samuel |