javacv-webcam: GraalVM edition

TLDR: java-webcam can be compiled with GraalVM to a native binary, source code available here. 

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Recently, I managed to find some time to get a custom java runtime image to work with JavaCV and a simple webcam application, which opens nice possibilities to play around doing image processing with Java.

On the other hand, if you have followed the Java community lately, you've been surely pointed several times to the current big thing Panama and Loom, ah I mean of course GraalVM. 

I'm very fond of the vision of GraalVM, which tries to provide a common platform for several different language eco systems (among other things), in my view a meta supplier for many business opportunities, not clear at the moment what the implications are really. 

It goes without saying that it would be great to get JavaCV and JavaFX to run with GraalVM as well.

Disclaimer: I'm just an interested developer who applies mentioned technologies, more or less successfully.  I cannot stress enough how grateful one can be for enabler technologies like JavaFX, JavaCV or GraalVM. 

Ok. What is necessary for a webcam binary, written in Java, at the time of writing? 

The good news is: not much. In retrospect (after hours - I still can't believe it works now, at least at the moment, for me, in my small bubble).

After much fiddling around the only thing really necessary was bringing together the right tools. I'm using GraalVM 2020.2.0 and Maven 3.6.2 at the moment, the most recent XCode, brew ... well ok ... probably much libraries and toolchains I'm not aware of (neither I want to be - to be honest). 

But the good news is that apart from setting up your environment "properly" and checking out javacv-webcam 2020.3.1,  all you have to do is to enter following command:

mvn clean client:build client:run -Djavacpp.platform.custom -Djavacpp.platform.host -Dgraalvm.home=/path/to/graalvm

After downloading all dependencies (can take some time!) and compiling (forget about download times, this is the real deal), you'll get a huge binary AND a running webcam application (most probably after having been asked to grant permissions by your friendly OS). ... which made my day!

Alternatively, you can start javacv-webcam binary then like this:

target/client/x86_64-darwin/net.ladstatt.javacv.javacv-webcam

Currently, this binary is huge (>500MB!), which is a little too much for my taste ;-) - a simple Hello World without JavaCV has around 60 MB (try compiling HelloFX in gluon-samples project). 

In this regard I'm sure it is possible to reduce the size by applying a more specific configuration. The best - only - chance I see here is to tinker around with JavaCV's dependencies, be more explicit with exclusions, hope that still everything you need works. To be honest, I already had to exclude one transitive dependency, otherwise linking didn't work with GraalVM. 

I just had luck my example app didn't need this specific library I guess. 

Anyway, the road for an easier deployment of Java image processing applications is paved, which is simply exciting! Slap like now!