Platform:

Ubuntu Feisty/Java 1.6.0

File:

Risk_install_1.0.9.2.jar

Problem:

There are no instructions for how to run the installer. (The instructions in the docs don't count since they're only available after installation; similar instructions are not on the website.) Furthermore, the standard methods don't work and there's no README with instructions.

Note: I'm not a Java programmer, so I don't know the intricacies of Java. I shouldn't have to.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Download the jar file.

2. Attempt to run it:
   ./Risk_install_1.0.9.2.jar

3. Attempt fails (not surprising since jar files are really zip files).

4. Try something else:
   java Risk_install_1.0.9.2.jar

5. Fails with the following error:
   Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Risk_install_1/0/9/2/jar

6. Search unsuccessfully for documentation.

7. Create a directory and unzip the jar file in it.

8. There's no README file, and nothing in the directory that looks like the file I should run. Most software distributions place the main executable either in the root level or in a directory called bin. Risk is different, but for no apparent reason.

9. Start looking through random files. Stumble upon META-INF/MANIFEST.MF quite by accident. Guess that the line beginning Main-Class might contain the proper command line.

10. Type
    java com.izforge.izpack.installer.Installer

11. The installer finally appears.

Comments:

• This is much too complicated. If I wasn't quite skilled with computers, I never would have succeeded in starting the installer. If I weren't a programmer, I wouldn't have guessed that the Main-Class line was what I needed.

• Who would ever think of looking in the com directory for the installer? Executables are nearly universally located either in the root directory or in a directory called bin.

• Why make people type a long, hairy command just to run the installer? Presumably, the only thing most people will do with the installer is run it.

• Why not post the documentation on the website? That way there would be some possibility of finding help.