1. Introduction

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of packaging your HTML-based hybrid app for deployment. Packaging your app is a crucial step in preparing your hybrid app for distribution on various platforms.

By the end of this tutorial, you will learn:

• The components you need to include in your package
• How to ensure your app is ready for distribution
• How to create a package for your app

Prerequisites:
You should have a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Experience with a hybrid mobile app framework like Apache Cordova, Ionic, or React Native would be helpful, but not strictly necessary.

2. Step-by-Step Guide

1. Prepare Your App: Before packaging your app, make sure it's fully functional and free of bugs. Also, ensure that all the images, stylesheets, scripts, and other resources your app needs are included in your project folder.

2. Choose a Hybrid Mobile App Framework: Hybrid mobile app frameworks like Apache Cordova, Ionic, or React Native can help you package your web app into a native container that can run on multiple platforms.

3. Install the Necessary Tools: You'll need to install Node.js, npm (which comes with Node.js), and the CLI tool of your chosen framework.

4. Create a Project: Use the CLI tool to create a new project. This will generate a project structure with configuration files, folders for your web resources, and platform-specific folders.

5. Add Your Web Resources: Place your HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and other resources in the appropriate folders.

6. Configure Your App: Modify the configuration file (config.xml for Cordova, ionic.config.json for Ionic, app.json for React Native) to specify your app's name, description, author, and other information.

7. Add Platforms: Use the CLI tool to add the platforms (Android, iOS, Windows, etc.) you want to target.

8. Build Your App: Use the CLI tool to build your app. This will create a package that can be installed on the targeted platforms.

3. Code Examples

Let's say we're using Apache Cordova. Here's how you'd create a new project, add your web resources, configure your app, add a platform, and build your app:

# Install Cordova
npm install -g cordova

# Create a new project
cordova create MyApp com.example.myapp MyApp

# Change into the project directory
cd MyApp

# Add your web resources to the 'www' folder

# Configure your app in 'config.xml'

# Add the Android platform
cordova platform add android

# Build your app
cordova build android

This will generate an APK file in platforms/android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk, which can be installed on Android devices.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've gone through the process of packaging a hybrid app for deployment. We've covered preparation, choosing a framework, installing tools, creating a project, adding web resources, configuring the app, adding platforms, and building the app.

Next, you could learn more about the specifics of your chosen framework, or explore how to submit your app to app stores.

5. Practice Exercises

1. Exercise: Create a simple "Hello, World!" app and package it for Android using Cordova. Solution: Follow the steps above, but for the web resources, just create a single index.html file with <h1>Hello, World!</h1>.

2. Exercise: Add an icon and a splash screen to your app. Solution: Place your icon and splash screen images in the res folder, and add <icon src="res/icon.png" /> and <splash src="res/splash.png" /> to your config.xml.

3. Exercise: Package your app for another platform (iOS, Windows, etc.). Solution: Install the necessary platform SDKs, then use cordova platform add <platform> and cordova build <platform>.

Remember to always test your app thoroughly on each platform before distributing it!