[Ant] how to create a jar (not runnable) with other dependencies?

[Rodrigo Soto]

Hello,
I am trying to build a jar file as an API for other applications to use. The problem is that when I try to use API.jar it relies on other jars that I've included inside API.jar but it the JVM does not find the dependencies. Here is my build.xml:

    
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="XDSDocumentConsumer-Source" default="archive">
	<property file="build.properties"/>
	 <property file="${user.home}/build.properties"/>
	<property name="basedir" value="." />
	<property name="build.home" value="${basedir}/bin" />
	<property name="build.classes" value="${build.home}/classes" />
	<property name="src" value="${basedir}/src" />
	<property name="dist" value="${basedir}/dist" />
	<property name="needed.xds.libs" value="${basedir}/XDS_TEST/xdstoolkit/lib" />
	<property name="needed.internal.libs" value="${basedir}/lib" />
	<property name="build.lib" value="${build.home}/lib" />
	<property name="main.class.name" value="queryquest.App" />
	
	<target name="init" >
		<mkdir dir="${build.home}" />
		<mkdir dir="${build.classes}"/>
		<mkdir dir="${build.home}/lib"/>
		<mkdir dir="${build.classes}"/>
		<mkdir dir="${dist}" />
	</target>
	
	<target name="compile" depends="init">
		<javac debug="on" srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build.classes}">
			<classpath>
				<fileset dir="${needed.xds.libs}">
					<include name="*.jar" />
				</fileset>
				<fileset dir="${needed.internal.libs}">
					<include name="*.jar" />
				</fileset>
			</classpath>
		</javac>
		<echo>Compilation complete!</echo>
	</target>
	
	<target name="archive" depends="compile">

		<!--<jar destfile="dist/xds-1.0.jar" basedir="${src}" includes="${needed.internal.libs}/*.jar; ${needed.xds.libs}/*.jar" />-->
		<copydir dest="${build.lib}" src="${needed.internal.libs}" />
		<copydir dest="${build.lib}" src="${needed.xds.libs}" />
		<copydir dest="${build.home}/xdsAffinityDomain" src="${basedir}/xdsAffinityDomain"/>
		<jar destfile="${dist}/${ant.project.name}.jar" compress="true">
			<fileset dir="${build.classes}" includes="**/*.*" />
			<fileset dir="${build.home}" includes="lib/*.*" />
			<fileset dir="${build.home}" includes="xdsAffinityDomain/*.*"/>
			<fileset dir="${basedir}" includes="conf/*.*"/>
		</jar>
	</target>
	
	<target name="clean" depends="init">
		<delete dir="build" />
		<delete dir="dist" />
	</target>
	
	<!--<target name="-pre-jar">
		<unjar dest="${build.classes}">
			<fileset dir="${needed.internal.libs}" includes="**.*"/>
		</unjar>
	</target>-->
	
</project>

This creates a jar file with the following tree:
api------
|
com(where some src classes are)
|
net (some other src classes are)
|
conf(configuration files for com and net classes)
|
lib (where dependencies are placed)
|
Meta-Inf
And when I the main application uses API.jar the following error is thrown:

    
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/log4j/PropertyConfigurator
	at com.philips.xmpe.xds.documentsource.test.TestProducer.main(TestProducer.java:19)
	at com.philips.test.TestJar.main(TestJar.java:7)
Exception in thread "main" 

Thank you.

[Martijn Verburg]

Jars typically don't have Jars inside their lib directories, they should simply live as themselves on the CLASSPATH.

[Tim Holloway]

JVM's won't find the dependencies. The standard classpath architecture for JVM's doesn't include looking inside JARs for other JARs. To do that you have to provide your app with a custom classloader. It's what the webservers do in order to resolve the resources inside the WEB-INF/libs directory, for example.

[Martijn Verburg]

Tim put it _far_ better than my lazy attempt, thanks Tim