Executable jar that contains other jars

[Imre Tokai]

Hello!


How can I create a app.jar that contains jarlib1.jar jarlib2.jar...
In the manifest file I have:

Main-Class: package.MainClass
Class-path: jarlib1.jar jarlib2.jar...

This is working, but I have to copy all dependent jars in the app.jar's folder.


How can I create a app.jar that contains all dependent jars and can be executed with:
java -jar app.jar
?


Regards

[Campbell Ritchie]

Is there anything helpful in the Java Tutorials? Look in the section about updating jars. Does that help?

[Henry Wong]

This is working, but I have to copy all dependent jars in the app.jar's folder.

Well,. that's how the manifest tag works... it doesn't magically copy all the jars into one big jar. It just defines what jar files to look for.

If you want one big jar, you will have to do it youself -- extract all the jars into one location for classes, and jar the whole wad back together. Personally, I would not recommend doing this. What is wrong with having separate jar files?

Henry

[Imre Tokai]

Thank you for your answers!


And is there any chance to do this with Maven or any OneJar app?

I am looking around, but still haven't find any working solution. It's more elegant to have only one app.jar file, than to have app.jar file and additional lib folder.
I'm also thinking about obfuscating code later...


Regards

[Mark Vedder]

Imre Tokai wrote:Thank you for your answers!


And is there any chance to do this with Maven or any OneJar app?

I am looking around, but still haven't find any working solution. It's more elegant to have only one app.jar file, than to have app.jar file and additional lib folder.
I'm also thinking about obfuscating code later...


Regards

Take a look at the Maven Maven Assembly Plugin. Specifically you will want to look at the jar-with-dependencies Predefined Assembly Descriptor. The usage page has some discussion on it.

Java 7 is going to be introducing the concept of a Java Module (JAM) -- see JSR 277 -- which will basically deal with this as well. A JAM will apparently be a super-set of JARs. So you'll put your JARs in your JAM rather than your jam in jars like Smuckers does ;)

[Bert Bates]

intermediate level

[Imre Tokai]

I used Maven and created one-jar successfully!

But i haven't had success without Maven.
In manifest file i added
Main-Class: package1.Mainclassname
Class-Path: lib/jar1.jar lib/jar2.jar...
and copied necessary jars to the lib folder (which is in the same folder where app.jar is).
Jars are not recognized.

How can I create one-jar without Maven?


Regards

[Mark Vedder]

What is the error message you are getting when you try to run it?

The manifest information you are showing looks good. Try doing a diff between the manifest you are creating and the one Maven created. See if anything jumps out. One thing to note is when you wrap an entry onto the next line (after 70 characters), you need a space at the start of that next line. For example:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Created-By: 11.0-b15 (Sun Microsystems Inc.)
Main-Class: com.example.some.long.package.name.for.my.application.TheM
 ainClassName
Build-Number: 515
SplashScreen-Image: images/splash.gif
Class-Path: resources/ lib/third-party-api-1.jar lib/third-party-api-2
 .jar lib/third-party-api-3.jar lib/third-party-api-3.jar lib/third-pa
 rty-api-4.jar

Notice the spaces at the start of lines 4, 8, & 9.