#Creating a Jar containing it's own dependencies.

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fast anchor
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For a project I have used two .jar files which are in its lib. However now I wish to use this project as a lib. However when I export my project to a .jar it no longer works due to the missing other two (as far as I can tell). I am quite familiar with java as a language, however not as a system. Could someone help me set up the dependencies for my project or somehow incorporate them? I do not want to manually install the dependencies. (I am using jdk17 on eclipse). I have no idea if what I'm trying to do is possible and I'm lost at this point.

true timberBOT
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<@&987246399047479336> please have a look, thanks.

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Here is an AI assisted attempt to answer your question 🤖. Maybe it helps! In any case, a human is on the way 👍. To continue talking to the AI, you can use </chatgpt:1108714622413963314>.

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jar file, the dependencies are not included in the jar file. To create a jar file that includes its own dependencies, you can use one of the following approaches:

  1. Using a build tool like Maven or Gradle: If you are using a build tool like Maven or Gradle, you can configure it to create an executable jar file with all its dependencies included. These build tools have plugins (e.g., Maven Shade Plugin or Gradle Shadow Plugin) that can handle this automatically. You just need to configure the plugin in your build configuration file (pom.xml for Maven or build.gradle for Gradle) and run the appropriate command to create the jar file.

  2. Using an IDE: Most IDEs provide options to export a project as a runnable jar file with dependencies included. For example, in Eclipse, you can right-click on your project, select "Export", choose "Runnable JAR File" under "Java", and then select the option "Package required libraries into generated JAR". This will create a jar file with all its dependencies included.

  3. Manually creating a fat/uber jar: If you don't want to use a build tool or IDE-specific options, you can manually create a fat/uber jar by extracting all the classes from your project's dependencies and packaging them along with your project's classes into a single jar file. You can use tools like Apache Maven Shade Plugin or Apache Ant Jar task to achieve this.

Here is an example of how you can use Apache Maven Shade Plugin to create an executable jar with all dependencies included:

  1. Add the following configuration to your pom.xml:
# 
<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.4</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>shade</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <createDependencyReducedPom>false</createDependencyReducedPom>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>
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  1. Run the following command to create the executable jar file:
# 
mvn package
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This will create a jar file in the target directory with all its dependencies included.

Note: When using any of these approaches, make sure that you have the necessary licenses and permissions to distribute the dependencies along with your project.

fast anchor
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My project does not include a main function so the runnable jar (which contains the option to package required libraries) is not an option I can take.

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As for the maven route, this seems like a viable option. However I have no clue how I would add the jar to the dependencies as it is a library we have a licence for and such. I do not think it is in the list that maven has.

midnight birch
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two options

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well, three

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  1. Have the jars for your dependencies on the side
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so get all your dependencies with mvn dependency:copy-dependencies and then have them on the classpath/modulepath when you launch the program

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java --class-path deps -jar main.jar

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  1. Bundle them into an uberjar
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pro: easier to deploy
con: janky

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we did 2 for work for a long time, but nowadays I think i'd prefer 1

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  1. make a jlinked image
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this is the stranger one of the list, but the one sanctioned by the jdk

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depending on your dependencies you can zip your project up into a modular runtime image

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basically just a version of java that contains only what you need for your app

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there is a 3.5 and so on for using jpackage and whatnot

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but with just 3 you need every dependency to have a module-info.class file in it

fast anchor
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Alright...

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Option 1 is what i currently have

midnight birch
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However now I wish to use this project as a lib
Oh i might have misread. you mean you want to use the project as a library from another project?

fast anchor
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Yeah

midnight birch
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and you have a library which is not open source, but just a jar you downloaded from the internet?

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and you paid for a license for

fast anchor
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Long story short, its PLCCom and postgresql. PLCCom is something we pay for (as far as i understood) and the other is just for reading from postgres.

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I wrote a bunch of methods that connect and send stuff to plc's

midnight birch
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gotcha

fast anchor
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and i want to use that in another project

midnight birch
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and are you using maven or just the "eclipse IDE build stuff"

fast anchor
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eclipse mostly. but i have maven installed at this point

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no clue about it however

midnight birch
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are you in an organization with more code infrastructure or is that basically how everyone works?

fast anchor
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this is the first project we are actually making in java. The rest is anchient bbj shit we need to replace at some point but thats not important

midnight birch
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bbj?

fast anchor
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BBj by bassis international

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its like basic and java mushed

midnight birch
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fascinating

fast anchor
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but that wont touch this so dw bout it

midnight birch
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okay well let me talk first about how the "maven system" works usually

fast anchor
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please

midnight birch
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so maven is two things

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first is a build tool. it runs code that compiles, packages, etc. your code

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second is a dependency resolver

fast anchor
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similar to npm then?

midnight birch
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in your pom.xml file - Project Object Model - you declare a list of dependencies for your "maven module"

midnight birch
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so dependency declarations have a few required parts

# 
   <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
            <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
            <version>2.15.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>dev.mccue</groupId>
            <artifactId>json</artifactId>
            <version>0.3.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId>
            <version>5.9.0</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
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the "group", the "artifact", and the "version"

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and optionally the "scope"

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the scope comes into play with the build tool part of things

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it says when the dependency should be available

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so when I personally publish a library to "maven central" - the repo that everyone uses for open source stuff

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I prove that I own mccue.dev via DNS stuff, then I can publish under the dev.mccue group whatever artifacts I want

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so in this case I depend on com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-databind

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when maven sees this, it will check the "proper" place in the repo

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and it will look in the pom.xml that is there

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and it will get any dependencies of jackson-databind

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so on and so forth until it has one version of every dependency

fast anchor
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Ok so far i can understand (besides the dev.mccue part but im sure i dont need to host stuff)

midnight birch
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and thats a rule for the public repos

fast anchor
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understood

midnight birch
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$ jresolve --print-tree pkg:maven/com.fasterxml.jackson.core/[email protected]
com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-databind 2.15.2
  . com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-annotations 2.15.2
  . com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-core 2.15.2
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so maven provides a pretty strong notion of a dependency

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you depend on one thing and automatically get everything that thing depends on

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so if you are gonna be making more and more software in Java, it probably makes sense to invest in that system

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the problem is that you don't have a repository you can find your PLCCom dependency in

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its just a jar you got

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and maven doesn't have support for "i depend on this jar lying about"

fast anchor
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i did try to mvn install of some kind

midnight birch
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so, you kinda need to have your own repository

fast anchor
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where i had to put in the path to the jar for the local repository

midnight birch
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a repository can be local, just a directory structure on your computer

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but really you want it to be shared in some way

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so running your own maven repo / paying for one / etc. might be the move (though maybe not idk)

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another another option is to not bother with that and do your entire company's codebase in one maven project

fast anchor
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as we already have some hosting here we might be able to get the local repo. But i can figure that out with my superiors later.

midnight birch
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you need to go deeper, but you can deal with it that way

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https://reposilite.com/

Reposilite
Reposilite

Lightweight and easy-to-use repository manager for Maven based artifacts in JVM ecosystem. This is simple, extensible and scalable self-hosted solution to replace managers like Nexus, Archiva or Artifactory, with reduced resources consumption.

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something like this^

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and for context, I wrote this

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so uhh, if you need help gimmie some $$ and i'll fly out

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but thats the general shape of your problem

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java is fine with just a bunch of deps in a folder. maven is not

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and maven is the way that you can have "transitive dependencies" in a sane-enough way

fast anchor
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and about the uberjar

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how doable is that

midnight birch
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not really viable for a library

fast anchor
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darn

midnight birch
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there are languages on the JVM with built-in support for local deps (like clojure)

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but thats a story for another day

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you can make an uberjar if you can safely shade your dependencies

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but you can't just keep doing that forever

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it basically only works once

fast anchor
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then i might just stick to the option 1 strat and have a folder. The bossman is not so much for going to public domains with our propiatary stuff

midnight birch
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i was answering the wrong question

fast anchor
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The basic problem i had was just management of the dependencies and you answered that (very well might i add)

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Im simply out of my depth with this stuff but this has given me a clear view of my options

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May i thank you for your time and explaination

midnight birch
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Remind me later in the day and I can make an example project for you

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I can also talk some of it through

fast anchor
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Maybe some other time then? I dont know what time it is for you but its 17:45 here and im gonna clock out soon.

midnight birch
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I am in EST, so it is 11:47

fast anchor
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For now we will be keeping it extra in the folders then (option 1). But if we drastically scale things up here, we might consider hosting our own maven repo.

midnight birch
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(+ having a multi-module maven build)

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(+ ...)

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yeah i'd be down to talk this through more - its an interesting situation for me

fast anchor
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For now ill just leave it at this, and call the question closed. We could perhaps have a chat about it tomorrow if my timetable will allow for it (and yours).

midnight birch
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👍

fast anchor
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Once again many thanks for the help chief, much apreciated.

true timberBOT
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@fast anchor

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midnight birch
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@fast anchor Just for context, I did spiral a bit after this conversation into making non-maven java dev..practical

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I can't actually reccomend you use it for work, but I can show you how to do it all just on the cli

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if this is still something you are figuring out