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Gianluca Costa edited this page Jan 1, 2016 · 7 revisions

Why MoonDeploy crashes when I try to start an app from Firefox / Chrome?

MoonDeploy requires a 64-bit system, and it is recommended that you employ the 64-bit version of your browser as well - crashes might occur when you use an old 32-bit browser.

Is MoonDeploy designed to replace Java Web Start (or Getdown, or Zero Install, or ...)?

Actually, no - the choice of the tools depends on your requirements: Java Web Start is based on the robust use of signing, which, in some cases, might be mandatory - for example because of agreements.

However, there are contexts whereby signing might become overwhelmingly bureaucratic, if not unaffordable: therefore, a solution actually consists in just creating a zip file for the user to download - relying on other secure technologies - especially HTTPS. This is generally less reliable than digital signatures, but fairly easier and cheaper to set up. What's more, in a few contexts, the extra layer of security provided by signing cannot justify its overhead.

MoonDeploy simply acknowledges that applications may be packaged as zip files, and provides both a centralised, well-organised app gallery and auto-update features; as for the security:

  • it asks the user before running an application for the first time

  • HTTPS is strongly suggested: if the user wishes to run an application via HTTP only, a warning is issued

Finally, MoonDeploy is especially suitable for applications deployed on GitHub, a great and robust platform for open source software.

The application doesn't start, but no error is shown! / When starting the application, strange error messages appear!

This situation is often due to an error in the application or its descriptor. You'll need to start MoonDeploy from the command line and consult its log. The steps are:

  1. Download the application's descriptor to a known location (for example, C:\App.moondeploy, on Windows)

  2. Be sure that moondeploy is in your PATH environment variable.

  3. Open a terminal (in Windows, a DOS command prompt)

  4. Run moondeploy C:\App.moondeploy (more generally, the file path chosen above)

You should see a lot of logging, telling you what was wrong.

How do I uninstall an application?

Just open the app gallery (located under MoonDeploy_Dir/app - on Windows, the default is C:\MoonDeploy\apps), find the application's directory and delete it! ^__^ Additionally, you should also delete its desktop shortcut, if you opted for creating it.

Why is the loader screen so aesthetically plain?

MoonDeploy is designed to be very minimalist. If you wish to create a custom launcher, perhaps using images, and not necessarily in GTK+, please refer to the API documentation.

As a sidenote, on Windows you might greatly enhance the aspect of the GTK+ interface by installing and configuring a GTK+ theme manager.

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