What’s the best way to distribute a binary application for Linux?

I just finished porting an application from Windows into Linux.
I have to create an installer of the application.
The application is not open source => I should distribute the application's binaries (executable file, couple .so files, help files and images).

I found several methods to do it:
- RPM and DEB packages;
- installer in .sh files;
- Autopackage.

I don't like first method (RPM and DEB packages) because I don't want to mantain different packages for different Linux distros.

What is the best way to distribute a binary application for Linux?

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1 Answer

You may want to try out InstallBuilder. It is crossplatform (runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris and nearly any other Unix platform out there). It is used by Intel, Motorola, GitHub, MySQL, Nokia/Trolltech and many other companies so you will be in good company :) In addition to binary installers, it can also create cross-distro RPMs and DEB packages.

InstallBuilder is commercial, but we offer free licenses for open source programs and very significant discounts for mISVs or solo-developers, just drop us a line.

answered 2009-10-06T13:38:45.350

What’s the best way to distribute a binary application for Linux?

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