Difference between Groovy Binary and Source release?

Binary releases contain computer readable version of the application, meaning it is compiled. Source releases contain human readable version of the application, meaning it has to be compiled before it can be used.

A source release will be compiled on your own machine while a binary release must match your operating system.

source releases are more common on linux systems because linux systems can dramatically vary in cpu, installed library versions, kernelversions and nearly every linux system has a compiler installed.

binary releases are common on ms-windows systems. most windows machines do not have a compiler installed.