Nextflow native package distribution #2028
Description
Summary
Provide a new Nextflow package distribution that runs natively in the target execution environment ie. deb and rpm on Linux and dmg on MacOs.
Goals
- Provide a self-contained application package that runs natively in target OS without the need to install the Java virtual machine.
- Streamline the installation of the Nexflow package.
Description
The core Nextflow application is distributed as a collection of JAR files that are downloaded by the launcher nextflow script. Managing the download of the required dependencies can create unexpected problems (see #1806), moreover, the need of having a preinstalled Java VM can be overkill for some users.
Recent versions of the Java (16 and later) includes the jpackage tool that allows the creation of a native platform executable including all the application dependencies and the Java runtime. This means that it can be created a self-contained executable that can run natively in the target environment.