User's Guide

Packaging terminology

The following terms are used to describe the packaging process:

Packaging
Packaging is the process of producing a new image containing the applications, classes, methods, and variables that you specify. The packager extracts the new image from the current development image.

Development image
The development image is the image in which you write code and from which your applications' code is extracted.

Output image
The output image is the new image produced on disk as a result of running the packaging process. It contains your application in a ready-to-run form.

Packaged image
The packaged image contains information about which applications, classes, methods, and variables will be extracted from the development environment and written to the output image. The packager provides facilities to browse and change what is contained in a packaged image. The term packaged image is often used to refer to the output image as well as the representation of the output image in the development environment. The context makes it clear which meaning is being attached to the term.

Packaging instruction
A packaging instruction represents basic information for packaging, such as packaging options, the base set of applications to package, and a core set of rules.

There are different packaging instructions available, depending on what type of packaged image is desired. You can create your own packaging instructions that serve as the template for packaging your application.

Packaging rules
Packaging rules define how the packaging process should produce a new image. Rules are assigned to classes, variables, and methods. Rules describe which components are to be included in the output image. Rules can describe transformations that must occur. For example, methods in the development environment can be replaced by different methods in the output image.

The initial set of rules for a packaged image come from the packaging instruction and from the applications being packaged. By distributing the rules for packaging to the applications, each application becomes more self-contained and "packager friendly."


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