Zipping best practice

[TheJaredWilcurt]

Current Docs/API:

options.mergeZip

Type: Boolean Default value: true

WINDOWS AND LINUX ONLY: Merge the source file package with the Node Webkit executable.

This approach has come to be known as an anti-pattern, it should no longer be enabled by default or recommended in the new API.

This approach involves packaging your project code into a .zip then performing copy /b nw.exe+package.zip app.exe or cat nw package.zip > app && chmod +x app. Producing an executable with the zip file built-in to it.

When you double-click the executable, the first thing it does is extract the zip file contents to a temp folder, then launch the app from that location. This requires unzipping the project files on every launch, making the start up time for apps slow for no benefit.

A better approach is to store the project files in a package.nw folder and place the folder next to the nw.exe. So it just runs directly from the file system.

[ayushmanchhabra]

Thanks! I haven't even reached here but this is definitely good to know before getting into zip functionality.

[TheJaredWilcurt]

If you put all your files in a package.nw folder next to nw.exe and then zip all of that together, that's fine, example:

• https://github.com/TheJaredWilcurt/WuhdAppusDat/releases/download/v2.0.0/LIN-64_WuhdAppusDat_2.0.0.zip

Because the user downloads the zip file, then extracts everything once to a folder, then deletes the original zip. This has no impact on performance.

[ayushmanchhabra]

There are so many options for zip functionality that it sometimes gets confusing. To make sure I understand we have a package.nw folder which has all the source files. We place that next to the nw.exe executable. We then zip the folder (lets call it app) which contains these 2 things and other library files like 'ffmpeg`. To run it we unzip and run the executable.

[TheJaredWilcurt]

You got it, you can download the example I linked above. but that's it:

• App.zip
  • nw files (nw.exe, ffmpeg, libEGL, icudtl, etc)
  • package.nw
    • all your files (package.json, index.html, etc)

[ayushmanchhabra]

Closing this in favour of #623.