Possible to run JAR file on any OS?

Question

Is it possible to execute a JAR file on any OS (like Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)? I want to build a simple application that I want to run on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Coul

Answer 1

As other said, as long as you have Java installed and avoid using native code, you should be good to go. One thing to note is that you can usually run a JAR file just by double clicking it, and it opens like a native executable (on Windows this is how it works by default, on other OSes you can configure this behavior).

Such JAR files are called executable JAR files. If what you want to create is an executable JAR file, then you need to add a manifest file that tells the Java virtual machine (JVM) the name of the main class. Executable JAR files also can be run on the command line by doing:

java -jar myprogram.jar

If your JAR is not an executable JAR, then to run your program you have to add the JAR to your classpath and then execute the main class. To add a JAR to the classpath:

java -classpath path/to/your/program.jar com.mypackage.Main