Julien Ponge is at it again with a set of New Installers for both GlassFish v2.1 and v3 prelude. These are single-file installers with OS-specific features such as the new privileges elevation on Windows Vista & 7. They are based on a preview of IzPack 4.2.1 which is set to be released any day now in a final version. GlassFish Update Center bootstrapping is also a nice touch for these new installers. Check out the source code if you're interested in how Julien did all this. While we're on the topic of Julien, you may be interested in his recent interview about teaching Java EE with GlassFish.

This was an interesting exchange. Jevgeni, of JavaRebel et al, wrote GlassFish Installation from Hell after trying out GlassFish and prompty got plenty of feedback. Most of the commenters pointed to RTFM (e.g. James's note) but I think we should not dismiss his feedback too quickly. Jevgeni has several valid points: there are no installation instructions in the download itself and the download is a jar that requires extra flags (more heap size). We should be able to improve the situation even before GFv3; the heap size may be harder to remove, but even switching to a ZIP of the JAR + Instructions would help. Even just a sharper download page might help!

Note the installation experience of the Java EE SDK is quite different, but that installer is not Open Source and it is not used in the Java.Net Downloads.

PS. Jevgeni, do let us know when you get JavaRebel (and JSPWeaver?) running on GlassFish.