An end user can launch a computer application clicking on a single icon once it has been completed and distributed. During the development of that application, software engineers use a variety of resources that necessitate highly technical processes to launch and test the program. An application packager’s job is to take the various components that make up a program and package them so that the end user can easily install and start it.
The first task of an application packager is to identify all of the libraries and files that a program requires to run properly. Software libraries, database files, compiled source code files, and graphical components are examples of these. Some of these files will be found in the program’s directory, but others, such as database servers or system graphics engines, will need to be downloaded and installed separately on the end user’s computer.
The application packager collects all files that do not require installation as separate system software into a single folder. Programmers can access these resources from anywhere on their workstation during the development process, but end products require a consistent configuration. The application packager ensures that all of the code in a program contains the correct directory paths to access those resources condensing all of the files into a single directory.
The application packager prepares the directory itself for the end user after consolidating all of the files a program requires to run. This entails replacing default system icons for executable files with icons created specifically for the program graphical artists, as well as including documentation files in the directory. Following the completion of these components, the packager must create an installer for the application.
An application packager creates and automates installation processes using software designed specifically for this purpose. This entails:
specifying which software components must be installed on the computer for the program to run
loading the files required to install that software if it is not already installed on the system
The directory containing all of the application’s files is being loaded.
The packager must then test the installer on machines that are similar to those that customers will use to ensure that the process works.
Backgrounds in computer science and programming are required for application packagers. They don’t write the majority of the program’s source code, but they still need to know how to edit source code and the software development cycle. This is required to ensure that the source code accurately reflects the program’s directory’s final file layout.