% Distributing Apps
% John Gabriele

In the [development environment](development-env.html) chapter, it was
noted that you can create and install a runnable jar of your Clojure
app like so:

    cd path/to/my-app
    lein uberjar
    cp target/my-app-0.1.0-standalone.jar ~/bin

Running the app in the typical way from the command line [^1] takes a
lot of typing though:

    java -jar ~/bin/my-app-0.1.0-standalone.jar arg1 arg1 whatever

To make it easier for you and your friends to run your app, create a
little script named after it:

    cd ~/bin
    touch my-app.sh
    chmod +x my-app.sh

and into it put the following:

~~~{.bash}
#!/bin/bash

java -jar ~/bin/my-app-0.1.0-standalone.jar "$@"
~~~

When you send your jar to a friend, send this script along as
well. Both the jar and the script should go into the ~/bin
directory. Now, running your app is as easy as:

    my-app.sh arg1 arg2 whatever

[^1]: Note that some OS's may allow you to simply double-click on a
jar file to run it. For those OS's --- and if your program does not
need to be passed any options or arguments --- the script described
herein is not necessary.