Java Eclipse: Difference between exporting as a JAR and exporting as a Runnable JAR

Question

What is the difference in eclipse between exporting as a JAR file and exporting as a Runnable JAR file? Aren\'t they both runnable? What are the pros/cons of each?

Answer 1

The runnable jar contains a MANIFEST.MF file, which defines the Main class to be executed when the jar is run.

Non-runnable jars are just libraries of classes, that can be added to the classpath so that code is reused (it also contains the manifest file, but no main class there)