120 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
120 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
# Application Distribution
|
||
|
||
To distribute your app with Electron, the folder containing your app should be
|
||
named `app` and placed under Electron's resources directory (on OS X it is
|
||
`Electron.app/Contents/Resources/` and on Linux and Windows it is `resources/`),
|
||
like this:
|
||
|
||
On OS X:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
electron/Electron.app/Contents/Resources/app/
|
||
├── package.json
|
||
├── main.js
|
||
└── index.html
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
On Windows and Linux:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
electron/resources/app
|
||
├── package.json
|
||
├── main.js
|
||
└── index.html
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Then execute `Electron.app` (or `electron` on Linux, `electron.exe` on Windows),
|
||
and Electron will start as your app. The `electron` directory will then be
|
||
your distribution to deliver to final users.
|
||
|
||
## Packaging Your App into a File
|
||
|
||
Apart from shipping your app by copying all of its source files, you can also
|
||
package your app into an [asar](https://github.com/atom/asar) archive to avoid
|
||
exposing your app's source code to users.
|
||
|
||
To use an `asar` archive to replace the `app` folder, you need to rename the
|
||
archive to `app.asar`, and put it under Electron's resources directory like
|
||
below, and Electron will then try read the archive and start from it.
|
||
|
||
On OS X:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
electron/Electron.app/Contents/Resources/
|
||
└── app.asar
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
On Windows and Linux:
|
||
|
||
```text
|
||
electron/resources/
|
||
└── app.asar
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
More details can be found in [Application packaging](application-packaging.md).
|
||
|
||
## Rebranding with Downloaded Binaries
|
||
|
||
After bundling your app into Electron, you will want to rebrand Electron
|
||
before distributing it to users.
|
||
|
||
### Windows
|
||
|
||
You can rename `electron.exe` to any name you like, and edit its icon and other
|
||
information with tools like [rcedit](https://github.com/atom/rcedit) or
|
||
[ResEdit](http://www.resedit.net).
|
||
|
||
### OS X
|
||
|
||
You can rename `Electron.app` to any name you want, and you also have to rename
|
||
the `CFBundleDisplayName`, `CFBundleIdentifier` and `CFBundleName` fields in
|
||
following files:
|
||
|
||
* `Electron.app/Contents/Info.plist`
|
||
* `Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks/Electron Helper.app/Contents/Info.plist`
|
||
|
||
You can also rename the helper app to avoid showing `Electron Helper` in the
|
||
Activity Monitor, but make sure you have renamed the helper app's executable
|
||
file's name.
|
||
|
||
The structure of a renamed app would be like:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
MyApp.app/Contents
|
||
├── Info.plist
|
||
├── MacOS/
|
||
│ └── MyApp
|
||
└── Frameworks/
|
||
├── MyApp Helper EH.app
|
||
| ├── Info.plist
|
||
| └── MacOS/
|
||
| └── MyApp Helper EH
|
||
├── MyApp Helper NP.app
|
||
| ├── Info.plist
|
||
| └── MacOS/
|
||
| └── MyApp Helper NP
|
||
└── MyApp Helper.app
|
||
├── Info.plist
|
||
└── MacOS/
|
||
└── MyApp Helper
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
### Linux
|
||
|
||
You can rename the `electron` executable to any name you like.
|
||
|
||
## Rebranding by Rebuilding Electron from Source
|
||
|
||
It is also possible to rebrand Electron by changing the product name and
|
||
building it from source. To do this you need to modify the `atom.gyp` file and
|
||
have a clean rebuild.
|
||
|
||
### grunt-build-atom-shell
|
||
|
||
Manually checking out Electron's code and rebuilding could be complicated, so
|
||
a Grunt task has been created that will handle this automatically:
|
||
[grunt-build-atom-shell](https://github.com/paulcbetts/grunt-build-atom-shell).
|
||
|
||
This task will automatically handle editing the `.gyp` file, building from
|
||
source, then rebuilding your app's native Node modules to match the new
|
||
executable name.
|