2022 and STILL no 64-bit Launch4j?

[Reed Byers]

I've got my first Groovy game coded, I'd like to distribute it to some friends (on Windows) for alpha testing. I don't want to walk them all through installing Java AND Groovy AND making sure their PATH variables are set right, etc.

I found a utility called "Groovy-to-exe-converter" (g2exe), which relies on Launch4j under the hood, and thought I was all set... but now it looks like Launch4j only comes in (and produces) 32-bit apps? I have NO 32-bit code on my system, and don't intend to start now.

I mean, Launch4j looked like it was still under development. This isn't abandonware from 2007 like JSmooth...

SIGH Suggestions for a novice Groovy developer to distribute Windows executables to even-more-novice friends without massive IDEs like Eclipse muscling in and taking over my workflow, would be appreciated...

[Grzegorz Kowal]

First of all when you create a Java program it can run on 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines. The default launch4j launcher is in fact 32-bit but can run the application on 32 and 64-bit virtual machines as well. So with one executable users can run the application on the virtual machine of their choice.

The 64-bit version would only be relevant if you were to use the JNI header, which might be useful in some cases of course.

BR,
Grzegorz