Run Remote Applications

JeKa allows running or installing applications directly from their source code hosted on Git repository.

Run

You can have a look at the application catalog by executing:

jeka app: catalog

To run directly an application, execute:

jeka --remote <git-url> --program <program arguments>

or

jeka -r <git-url> -p <program arguments>

Example:

jeka --remote https://github.com/djeang/demo-dir-checksum --program -a SHA256

you can pass -Dxxxxx=yyyy as program argument to set system properties.

When you run it for the first time, Jeka will prompt you to confirm whether you trust the URL github.com/djeang/demo-dir-checksum. This is to prevent the execution of malicious code.

If you accept, the application will build before running. On subsequent runs, it will execute directly, as the binaries are cached.

Later you can edit the [JEKA_HOME]/global.properties file to adjust the trusted URLs.

Example:

jeka.app.url.trusted=github.com/djeang/

In this example, we shorten the url, so that any url starting by github.com/djeang/will be trusted.

Run a Specific Version

You can run a specific version of an application by specifying a tag name in the URL. For example:

jeka -r https://github.com/jeka-dev/demo-cowsay#0.0.6 -p "Hello JeKa!"

Run Native Executables

You can compile a remote application to a native executable. Once compiled, all subsequent runs will execute the native version of the application.

To compile a remote application into a native executable, use the following command:

jeka -r https://github.com/jeka-dev/demo-cowsay#0.0.6 native: compile

After compilation, run the application as usual.

Build Docker Image of tha application

Jeka allow creating Docker images of a remote application.

Create a JVM image:

jeka -r https://github.com/jeka-dev/demo-cowsay docker: build

Create a native image:

jeka -r https://github.com/jeka-dev/demo-cowsay docker: buildNative

. Then follow the instruction to run the built docker image.

Use Shorthands

Typing and remembering the repository URL of the application for every run can be tedious. You can simplify this by using Jeka's global command shortcut substitution mechanism.

For example, define the following property in your ~/.jeka/global.properties file:

jeka.cmd.cowsay=-r https://github.com/jeka-dev/demo-cowsay#0.0.6 -p

Now, you can invoke the application using the shortcut command:

jeka ::cowsay "Hello World!"

Install

Jeka allows you to install an application, enabling you to execute it without invoking jeka.

Example:

jeka app: install repo=github.com/djeang/kill8

This command installs the kill8 application in the user's PATH, allowing you to simply invoke the application by name to run it:

kill8 8081

For more details, refer to the documentation.