How do you create a standalone application with dependencies intact using Maven?

Question

I have a desktop Java application built using Maven 2 (but I could upgrade to Maven 3 if that helps) with a number of open source dependencies. I\'m now trying to package it

Answer 1

Add the following plugins in pom.xml. Check the value at mainClass,classpathPrefix,addClasspath tags.

            org.apache.maven.plugins
            maven-jar-plugin
            2.4
            
                
                    
                        org.apache.camel.spring.Main
                        lib/
                        true
                    
                
            
        
        
            org.apache.maven.plugins
            maven-assembly-plugin
            2.4
            
                
                    src/assembly/some-assembly.xml
                
            
            
                
                    make-assembly
                    package
                    
                        single
                    
                
            
        

Create some-assembly.xml under src/assembly as below.

distribution

    zip

true

    
        ${project.build.directory}
        /
        
            *.jar
        
    


    
        runtime
        /lib
        false
        false
    

Note that useProjectArtifact flag to false, unpack flag to false. If root folder inside zip file is not required,then one can make includeBaseDirectory to false.

This will create name-version-distribution.zip file. Inside zip file, there will be folder name-version. Inside this folder, your executable jar and lib folder containing all dependency jars will be present. Check manifest.MF file of executable jar. It contains both main class and classpath information.