[java] Creating runnable JAR with Gradle

Until now I created runnable JAR files via the Eclipse "Export..." functionallity but now I switched to IntelliJ IDEA and Gradle for build automation.

Some articles here suggest the "application" plugin, but this does not entirely lead to the result I expected (just a JAR, no start scripts or anything like this).

How can I achieve the same result Eclipse does with the "Export..." dialog?

You can use the SpringBoot plugin:

plugins {
  id "org.springframework.boot" version "2.2.2.RELEASE"
}

Create the jar

gradle assemble

And then run it

java -jar build/libs/*.jar

Note: your project does NOT need to be a SpringBoot project to use this plugin.

Both JB Nizet and Jorge_B's answers are correct.

In its simplest form, creating an executable JAR with Gradle is just a matter of adding the appropriate entries to the manifest. However, it's much more common to have dependencies that need to be included on the classpath, making this approach tricky in practice.

The application plugin provides an alternate approach; instead of creating an executable JAR, it provides:

• a run task to facilitate easily running the application directly from the build
• an installDist task that generates a directory structure including the built JAR, all of the JARs that it depends on, and a startup script that pulls it all together into a program you can run
• distZip and distTar tasks that create archives containing a complete application distribution (startup scripts and JARs)

A third approach is to create a so-called "fat JAR" which is an executable JAR that includes not only your component's code, but also all of its dependencies. There are a few different plugins that use this approach. I've included links to a few that I'm aware of; I'm sure there are more.

• shadow
• one-jar
• spring-boot
• capsule

I checked quite some links for the solution, finally did the below mentioned steps to get it working. I am using Gradle 2.9.

Make the following changes in your build,gradle file :

1. Mention plugin:

   apply plugin: 'eu.appsatori.fatjar'
   

2. Provide the Buildscript:

   buildscript {
   repositories {
       jcenter()
   }
   
   dependencies {
       classpath "eu.appsatori:gradle-fatjar-plugin:0.3"
   }
   }
   

3. Provide the Main Class:

   fatJar {
     classifier 'fat'
     manifest {
       attributes 'Main-Class': 'my.project.core.MyMainClass'
     }
     exclude 'META-INF/*.DSA', 'META-INF/*.RSA', 'META-INF/*.SF'
   }
   

4. Create the fatjar:

   ./gradlew clean fatjar
   

5. Run the fatjar from /build/libs/ :

   java -jar MyFatJar.jar
   

1. Configure Main Class to your Manifest

If you are using gradle project, just add the following into your build.gradle

jar {
    manifest {
        attributes(
               'Main-Class': 'pokerhandscorer.PokerHandScorer'
        )
    }
}

• Where 'pokerhandscorer' is the name of the package name, and PokerHandScorer is the main class name

This creates a jar file into your \build\libs{jarFilename}.jar

2. Run jar file using java -jar /{path}/{jarFileName.jar}

java -jar /{path}/{jarFileName.jar}

As others have noted, in order for a jar file to be executable, the application's entry point must be set in the Main-Class attribute of the manifest file. If the dependency class files are not collocated, then they need to be set in the Class-Path entry of the manifest file.

I have tried all kinds of plugin combinations and what not for the simple task of creating an executable jar and somehow someway, include the dependencies. All plugins seem to be lacking one way or another, but finally I got it like I wanted. No mysterious scripts, not a million different mini files polluting the build directory, a pretty clean build script file, and above all: not a million foreign third party class files merged into my jar archive.

The following is a copy-paste from here for your convenience..

[How-to] create a distribution zip file with dependency jars in subdirectory /lib and add all dependencies to Class-Path entry in the manifest file:

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'java-library-distribution'

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    compile 'org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.3.2'
}

// Task "distZip" added by plugin "java-library-distribution":
distZip.shouldRunAfter(build)

jar {
    // Keep jar clean:
    exclude 'META-INF/*.SF', 'META-INF/*.DSA', 'META-INF/*.RSA', 'META-INF/*.MF'

    manifest {
        attributes 'Main-Class': 'com.somepackage.MainClass',
                   'Class-Path': configurations.runtime.files.collect { "lib/$it.name" }.join(' ')
    }
    // How-to add class path:
    //     https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22659463/add-classpath-in-manifest-using-gradle
    //     https://gist.github.com/simon04/6865179
}

Hosted as a gist here.

The result can be found in build/distributions and the unzipped contents look like this:

lib/commons-lang3-3.3.2.jar
MyJarFile.jar

Contents of MyJarFile.jar#META-INF/MANIFEST.mf:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Main-Class: com.somepackage.MainClass
Class-Path: lib/commons-lang3-3.3.2.jar

Least effort solution for me was to make use of the gradle-shadow-plugin

Besides applying the plugin all that needs to be done is:

Configure the jar task to put your Main class into manifest

jar {
  manifest {
   attributes 'Main-Class': 'com.my.app.Main'
  }
}

Run the gradle task

./gradlew shadowJar

Take the app-version-all.jar from build/libs/

And finally execute it via:

java -jar app-version-all.jar

Here is the solution I tried with Gradle 6.7

Runnable fat Jar (with all dependent libraries copied to the jar)

task fatJar(type: Jar) {
   
    manifest {
        attributes 'Main-Class': 'com.example.gradle.App'
    }
    from {
        configurations.compile.collect { it.isDirectory() ? it : zipTree(it) }
    } with jar
    
}

Runnable jar with all dependencies copied to a directory and adding the classpath to the manifest

    def dependsDir = "${buildDir}/libs/dependencies/"
    task copyDependencies(type: Copy) {
        from configurations.compile
        into "${dependsDir}"
    }
    task createJar(dependsOn: copyDependencies, type: Jar) {
      
        manifest {
            attributes('Main-Class': 'com.example.gradle.App',
                    'Class-Path': configurations.compile.collect { 'dependencies/' + it.getName() }.join(' ')
            )
        }
        with jar
    }

How to use ?

• Add the above tasks to build.gradle
• Execute gradle fatJar //create fatJar
• Execute gradle createJar // create jar with dependencies copied.

More details : https://jafarmlp.medium.com/a-simple-java-project-with-gradle-2c323ae0e43d

Thank you Konstantin, it worked like a charm with few nuances. For some reason, specifying main class as part of jar manifest did not quite work and it wanted the mainClassName attribute instead. Here is a snippet from build.gradle that includes everything to make it work:

plugins {
  id 'java' 
  id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version '1.2.2'
}
...
...
apply plugin: 'application'
apply plugin: 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow'
...
...
mainClassName = 'com.acme.myapp.MyClassMain'
...
...
...
shadowJar {
    baseName = 'myapp'
}

After running gradle shadowJar you get myapp-{version}-all.jar in your build folder which can be run as java -jar myapp-{version}-all.jar.

Have you tried the 'installApp' task? Does it not create a full directory with a set of start scripts?

http://www.gradle.org/docs/current/userguide/application_plugin.html

You can define a jar artifact in the module settings (or project structure).

• Right click the module > Open module settings > Artifacts > + > JAR > from modules with dependencies.
• Set the main class.

Making a jar is then as easy as clicking "Build artifact..." from the Build menu. As a bonus, you can package all the dependencies into a single jar.

Tested on IntelliJ IDEA 14 Ultimate.