Delivering Dylan Applications

Applications you have written using Open Dylan need access to Open Dylan’s run-time libraries in order to run. This applies to all applications, whether executables or DLLs. The run-time libraries are normal Win32 DLLs, stored in the top-level installation folder Redistributable.

When you run an application on a machine where Open Dylan is installed, the libraries will be found in Redistributable, whether you run the application from the command line or from within the Open Dylan environment using commands such as Application > Start.

But to deliver your Dylan application to a customer or other third party, you will need to include in your distribution the Open Dylan run-time libraries that the application uses.

This chapter discusses two methods of delivering Dylan applications with the necessary run-time libraries: using the environment to build a Release folder, and using Open Dylan’s stand-alone run-time library installer.

Building a release folder

To create a single folder containing everything necessary for your application to run on a customer’s machine, use the Project > Make Release command in the project window.

This command takes the compiled application files associated with the project, and whichever Open Dylan run-time libraries (DLLs) are necessary for the application to run, and copies them into the Release subfolder of the project’s own folder.

You can then distribute the entire Release folder as a stand-alone application. Read the Open Dylan license agreement for details of the legal side of redistributing the Open Dylan run-time libraries.

Using the run-time library installer

An alternative to building a single release folder is to use Open Dylan’s run-time library installer, a self-extracting executable that installs all the Open Dylan run-time libraries (DLLs) in a central location.

The default location is

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Harlequin\System

The run-time library installer also sets the PATH environment variable to include this folder.

Your distributable application should then consist of a copy of your compiled application files from the project’s Bin folder, and the run-time installer.

The run-time library installer is included on CD-ROM editions of Open Dylan, and can also be downloaded from Harlequin’s World Wide Web site. You can distribute the run-time installer to customers, or allow them to download it themselves.

About the run-time library DLLs

The run-time library DLLs have 8.3 format names and include a version number. This version number will be incremented for new releases of the run-time libraries.