Can t execute jar- file no main manifest attribute

Question

I have installed an application  when I try to run it  it s an executable jar  nothing happens  When I run it from the commandline with       java -jar  app jar    I get the following message      no main manifest attribute  in  app jar    Normally  if I had created the program myself  I would have added a main class attribute to the manifest file  But in this case  since the file is from an application  i cannot do that  I also tried extracting the jar to see if I could find the main class  but there are to many classes and none of them has the word  main  in it s name  There must be a way to fix this because the program runs fine on other systems

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I had the same issue  by adding following lines to pom file made it work  The plugin will make sure the build process of your application with all necessary steps    lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt spring-boot-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt

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I was getting the same error when executing mvn package  This is how I solved the problem   I was using the maven-multi-module  I was facing this issue because I added below part in parent pom by mistake    lt plugin gt       lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt spring-boot-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt   lt  plugin gt    Then after adding this in submodules pom xml and removing from parent pom solved my problem

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Simply add this to your java module s build gradle  It ll create executable jar  It will include dependent libraries in archive  jar     manifest        attributes  quot Main-Class quot    quot com company application Main quot           from       configurations compile collect   it isDirectory     it   zipTree it           This will result in  module name  build libs  module name  jar file  I tested this with shell

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I had this issue when creating a jar using IntelliJ IDEA  See this discussion   What solved it for me was to re-create the jar artifact  choosing JAR   From modules with dependencies  but not accepting the default Directory for META-INF MANIFEST MF  Change it from - src main java to - src main resources   Otherwise it was including a manifest file in the jar  but not the one in - src main java that it should have

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Try this command to include the jar    java -cp yourJarName jar your package  your MainClass

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If the jar isn t following the rules  it s not an executable jar

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I found a new solution to bad manifest generation     Open the jar file with a zip editor like WinRAR Click on for META-INF Add or edit   Add    Create a text file called MANIFEST MF in a folder called META-INF  and add the following line        Manifest-Version  1 0 Main-Class  package ex com views mainClassName  Save the file and add it to the zip  Edit    Drag the file out modify the MANIFEST MF to add the previous line   Open cmd and type  java -jar c  path JarName jar   It should work fine now

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Check your local  m2 direcory for a sub directory of this artifact  If exixts - delete it  and perform Maven update again

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You might not have created the jar file properly      ex  missing option m in jar creation   The following works   jar -cvfm MyJar jar Manifest txt   class

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If using Maven  include following in the pom   lt parent gt       lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt spring-boot-starter-parent lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 1 4 2 RELEASE lt  version gt   lt  parent gt    lt properties gt       lt java version gt 1 8 lt  java version gt   lt  properties gt    lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt spring-boot-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt

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Since you ve add MANIFEST MF  I think you should consider the order of Field in this file  My env is  java version  1 8 0 91   and my MANIFEST MF as here     MANIFEST MF Manifest-Version  1 0 Created-By  1 8 0 91  Oracle Corporation  Main-Class  HelloWorldSwing     run   java -jar HelloWorldSwing jar no main manifest attribute  in HelloWorldSwing jar   However  this as below run through  Manifest-Version  1 0 Main-Class  HelloWorldSwing Created-By  1 8 0 91  Oracle Corporation     this run swing normally

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Any executable jar file Should run either by clicking or running using command prompt like java -jar app jar  use  if path of jar contains space  - i e  java -jar  C  folder name app jar    If your executable jar is not running  which means it is not created properly   For better understanding  extract the jar file  or view using any tool  for windows 7-Zip is nice one  and check the file under  META-INF MANIFEST MF  If you find any entry like  Main-Class  your package name ClaaswithMain - then it s fine  otherwise you have to provide it   Be aware of appending Main-Class entry on MANIFEST MF file  check where you are saving it

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If you are using the command line to assemble  jar it is possible to point to the main without adding Manifest file  Example   jar cfve app jar TheNameOfClassWithMainMethod   class    param  e  does that  TheNameOfClassWithMainMethod is a name of the class with the method main    and app jar - name of executable  jar and   class - just all classes files to assemble

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I faced the same issue and it s fixed now   Just follow the below steps and the error could be for anything  but the below steps makes the process smoother  I spend lot of time to find the fix   1 Try restart the Eclipse  if you are using Eclipse to built JAR file  --  Actually this helped my issue in exporting the JAR file properly   2 After eclipse restart  try to see if your eclipse is able to recognize the main class method by your Java project --  right click --  Run as --  Run configurations --  Main --  click Search button to see if your eclipse is able to lookup for your main class in the JAR file  --  This is for the validation that JAR file will have the entry point to the main class    After this  export your Java Dynamic project as  Runnable JAR  file and not JAR file  In Java launch configuration  choose your main class  Once export the jar file  use the below command to execute  java -cp  Your JAR  jar  complete package  MainClass eg  java -cp AppleTCRuleAudit jar com apple tcruleaudit classes TCRuleAudit You might face the unsupported java version error  the fix is to change the java home in your shell bash profile to match the java version used to compile the project in eclipse    Hope this helps  Kindly let me know if you still have any issues

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first post - so it may not be clean   This is my fix for OS X 11 6  Maven-based Netbeans 8 2 program  Up to now my app is 100  Netbeans - no tweaking  just a few shell escapes for the impossible     Having tried most all of the answers here and elsewhere to no avail  I returned to the art of  use what works     The top answer here  olivier-refalo thanx  looked like the right place to start but didn t help    Looking at other projects which did work  I noticed some minor differences in the manifest lines     addClasspath  classpathPrefix were absent  deleted them  mainClass was missing the  com    used the NB -  Project Properties- Run- Main Class- Browse to specify    Not sure why  I am only 3 months into java  or how  but can only say this worked    Here is just the modified manifest block used        lt manifest gt           lt mainClass gt mypackage MyClass lt  mainClass gt       lt  manifest gt

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most of the solutions did not work for me but my instructor helped me out i would like to share his solution here i used kali linux terminal but should be fine in all debian  javac   java nano MANIFEST MF   in the file type     Main-Class   Main   or whatever your main file name is  make sure to add package name if it exists    jar -cvmf MANIFEST MF new jar   class   now to run the file use  java -jar new jar   or you can go to propeties of file and check      Allow Execution of file as program      double click on it   it helped me while most of the above answers did not

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The MAVEN problem is that its try to include the first MANIFEST MF file from first library from dependencies instead of THE OUR OWN MANIFEST MF WHEN YOU USE ARTIFACTS     Rename yourjar jar to yourjar zip Open MANIFEST MF file from META-INF MANIFEST MF Copy the real MANIFEST MF that already generate in your project by MAVEN That include somelike that   Manifest-Version  1 0 Main-Class  yourpacket yourmainclass  for exmaple info data MainClass  Replace the content of MANIFEST MF from youjar zip with it  Rename yourjar zip to yourjar jar back  Now java -jar yourjar jar work perfectly    OR   Simple create you own MANIFEST MF and    lt plugin gt       lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt maven-jar-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 3 2 0 lt  version gt       lt configuration gt           lt archive gt               lt manifestFile gt  Your path like  src main resources META-INF MANIFEST MF  lt  manifestFile gt               lt index gt true lt  index gt                   lt manifest gt                       lt addClasspath gt true lt  addClasspath gt                   lt  manifest gt           lt  archive gt       lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt    But if you use maven panel  or maven command line  you can force it to generate own manifest and include it into JAR file    Add to the you pom xml s build section this code    lt plugins gt       lt plugin gt        lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt maven-assembly-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 3 2 0 lt  version gt       lt executions gt           lt execution gt               lt phase gt package lt  phase gt               lt goals gt                   lt goal gt single lt  goal gt               lt  goals gt           lt  execution gt       lt  executions gt        lt configuration gt           lt descriptorRefs gt               lt descriptorRef gt jar-with-dependencies lt  descriptorRef gt           lt  descriptorRefs gt            lt archive gt                lt index gt true lt  index gt                lt manifest gt                   lt addClasspath gt true lt  addClasspath gt                   lt mainClass gt  yourpacket yourmainclass  for exmaple info data MainClass  lt  mainClass gt               lt  manifest gt               lt manifestEntries gt                   lt mode gt development lt  mode gt                   lt url gt   project url  lt  url gt               lt  manifestEntries gt           lt  archive gt       lt  configuration gt   lt  plugin gt     Open the MAVEN panel  in Intellij  and execute  Install   It will generate the MANIFEST file and compile property the JAR file with all dependencies into the  Target  folder  Also it will be installed to the local maven repository

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That is because Java cannot find the Main attribute in the MANIFEST MF file  The Main attribute is necessary to tell java which class it should use as the application s entry point  Inside the jar file  the MANIFEST MF file is located in META-INF folder  Wondering how you could look at what s inside a jar file  Open the jar file with WinRAR   The main attribute inside the MANIFEST MF looks like this   Main-Class   lt packagename gt   lt classname gt    You get this  no main manifest attribute  error when this line is missing from the MANIFEST MF file    It s really a huge mess to specify this attribute inside the MANIFEST MF file   Update  I just found a really neat way to specify the Application s entry point in eclipse  When you say Export    Select Jar and next     give it a name in the next window   and next  and next again  and you ll see   Select the class of the application entry point    Just pick a class and Eclipse will automatically build a cool MANIFEST MF for you

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I had this problem and i solved it recently by doing this in Netbeans 8  Refer to the image below       go to properties of your project  click on Run  specify the main class of your project using browse  build and run the Jar file

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You might have the same problem as I do  After creating your  jar file  write jar xf app jar META-INF MANIFEST MF  This will create a copy of the file to your current directory so you can read it  If it only says something like      Manifest-Version  1 0      Created-By  1 8 0 51  Oracle Corporation    and does not contain the  Main-Class  declaration  then I think you found your problem   I do not know how to solve it  though  I checked other people with same similar problems on StackOverflow and couldn t find an answer  However with this information you can perhaps get some better help  given the fact that you have the same problem as I    Edit  I had tried with a manifest-file but didn t get it to work  but my mistake was to only name one of the classes when creating the jar-file  I wrote   class instead and it works now   Although I don t know why there is a need to create a manifest-file  But I guess it s fine as long as it works

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The Gradle answer is to add a jar manifest attributes setting like this   apply plugin   java   jar       manifest           attributes  Main-Class    com package app Class

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I got same error just now  If u re using gradle  just add next one in ur gradle build   apply plugin   java   jar       manifest           attributes  Main-Class    com company project MainClass            Where com company project MainClass path to ur class with public static void main String   args  method

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Found a great solution which would help in any such situation  given you just need a runnable jar  which you do in most cases  If your application is running in Intellij Idea follow these steps  1  Go to module settings and then artifacts  and add a jar and define main class 2  Then go to Build in the menu and click  build artifact  and you get the jar   This worked even when I changed the source folder and used scala instead of java

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For me  none of the answers really helped - I had the manifest file in correct place  containing the Main-Class and everything  What tripped me over was this      Warning  The text file from which you are creating the manifest must   end with a new line or carriage return  The last line will not be   parsed properly if it does not end with a new line or carriage return     source   Adding a newline at the end of the manifest fixed it

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Alternatively  you can use maven-assembly-plugin  as shown in the below example    lt plugin gt       lt artifactId gt maven-assembly-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt executions gt         lt execution gt           lt phase gt package lt  phase gt           lt goals gt             lt goal gt single lt  goal gt           lt  goals gt         lt  execution gt       lt  executions gt       lt configuration gt         lt archive gt           lt manifest gt             lt addClasspath gt true lt  addClasspath gt             lt mainClass gt com package MainClass lt  mainClass gt           lt  manifest gt         lt  archive gt         lt descriptorRefs gt           lt descriptorRef gt jar-with-dependencies lt  descriptorRef gt         lt  descriptorRefs gt       lt  configuration gt     lt  plugin gt     In this example all the dependency jars as specified in  section will be automatically included in your single jar  Note that jar-with-dependencies should be literally put as  not to be replaced with the jar file names you want to include

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I had a similar issue as you   in below a syntax to create successfully  war File -  jar  cvf   jar-file   manifest-file      manifest   When creating  c  or updating  u  a JAR file  the manifest operand defines the preexisting manifest files with names and values of attributes to be included in MANIFEST MF in the JAR file  The manifest operand must be specified if the f option is present   1      In order to create manifest file you need to defined a value for some attributes  you could put asterisk after the   WAR  file name to avoid creating manifest file -  jar -cvf foo war    To be honest with you I don t know if that is a best practice but it do the work for me

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For me this error occurred simply because I forgot tell Eclipse that I wanted a runnable jar file and not a simple library jar file   So when you create the jar file in Eclipse make sure that you click the right radio button

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You Can Simply follow this step   Create a jar file using   jar -cfm jarfile-name manifest-filename Class-file name   While running the jar file simple run like this   java -cp jarfile-name main-classname

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I had the same issue today  My problem was solved my moving META-INF to the resources folder

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check your jar file inside MANIFEST MF Main-Class is available or not  first java  class first           public static void main  String arg                          System out println  Welcome to the world of Java                  Before   Manifest-Version  1 0 Created-By  1 7 0 80  Oracle Corporation   sony sony-VPCEH25EN   Documents  java -jar first jar no main manifest attribute  in first jar   After    Manifest-Version  1 0 Created-By  1 7 0 80  Oracle Corporation  Main-Class  first  sony sony-VPCEH25EN   Documents  java -jar first jar  Welcome to the world of Java

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I had the same problem  A lot of the solutions mentioned here didn t give me the whole picture  so I ll try to give you a summary of how to pack jar files from the command line    If you want to have your  class files in packages  add the package in the beginning of the  java   Test java  package testpackage   public class Test              To compile your code with your  class files ending up with the structure given by the package name use   javac -d   Test java   The -d   makes the compiler create the directory structure you want  When packaging the  jar file  you need to instruct the jar routine on how to pack it  Here we use the option set cvfeP  This is to keep the package structure  option P   specify the entry point so that the manifest file contains meaningful information  option e   Option f lets you specify the file name  option c creates an archive and option v sets the output to verbose  The important things to note here are P and e   Then comes the name of the jar we want test jar   Then comes the entry point    And then comes -C    lt packagename gt   to get the class files from that folder  preserving the folder structure   jar cvfeP test jar testpackage Test -C   testpackage   Check your  jar file in a zip program  It should have the following structure  test jar  META-INF   MANIFEST MF testpackage   Test class   The MANIFEST MF should contain the following  Manifest-Version  1 0 Created-By   lt JDK Version gt   Oracle Corporation  Main-Class  testpackage Test   If you edit your manifest by hand be sure to keep the newline at the end otherwise java doesn t recognize it  Execute your  jar file with  java -jar test jar

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I personally think all the answers here are mis-understanding the question   The answer to this lies in the difference of how spring-boot builds the  jar   Everyone knows that Spring Boot sets up a manifest like this   which varies from everyones asssumption that this is a standard  jar launch  which it may or may not be    Start-Class  com myco eventlogging MyService Spring-Boot-Classes  BOOT-INF classes  Spring-Boot-Lib  BOOT-INF lib  Spring-Boot-Version  1 4 0 RELEASE Created-By  Apache Maven 3 3 9 Build-Jdk  1 8 0 131 Main-Class  org springframework boot loader JarLauncher   Perhaps it needs to executed with org springframework boot loader JarLauncher on the classpath

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I tried this and it worked for me   mvn clean install package should work    lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt spring-boot-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt executions gt               lt execution gt                   lt goals gt                       lt goal gt repackage lt  goal gt                   lt  goals gt               lt  execution gt               lt  executions gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt

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The above answers were only partly helpful for me  java -cp was part of the answer  but I needed more specific info on how to identify the class to run  Here is what worked for me   Step 1  find the class I need to run  jar tf  path to myjar jar   more   The top lines of the result were   META-INF  META-INF MANIFEST MF somepath  somepath App class META-INF maven        App class contained the main class to run  I m not 100  sure if you can always assume the class you need is the first one  but it was for me  If it isn t  I d imagine it isn t too hard to use grep to exclude library-related results to pare the class list down to a manageable size   From there it was easy  I just use that path  minus the   class  suffix    java -cp  path to myjar jar somepath App

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For maven  this is what solved it  for me  for a Veetle codebase on GitHub     lt build gt   lt plugins gt     lt plugin gt       lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt maven-shade-plugin lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt 2 0 lt  version gt       lt executions gt         lt execution gt           lt phase gt package lt  phase gt           lt goals gt             lt goal gt shade lt  goal gt           lt  goals gt           lt configuration gt             lt transformers gt               lt transformer implementation  org apache maven plugins shade resource ManifestResourceTransformer  gt                 lt mainClass gt org lazydevs veetle api VeetleAPI lt  mainClass gt               lt  transformer gt             lt  transformers gt           lt  configuration gt         lt  execution gt       lt  executions gt     lt  plugin gt    lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt    Cheers

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First  it s kind of weird  to see you run java -jar  quot app quot  and not java -jar app jar Second  to make a jar executable    you need to jar a file called META-INF MANIFEST MF the file itself should have  at least  this one liner  Main-Class  com mypackage MyClass  Where com mypackage MyClass is the class holding the public static void main String   args  entry point  Note that there are several ways to get this done either with the CLI  Maven  Ant or Gradle  For CLI  the following command will do   tks  dvvrt  jar cmvf META-INF MANIFEST MF  lt new-jar-filename gt  jar   lt files to include gt   For Maven  something like the following snippet should do the trick  Note that this is only the plugin definition  not the full pom xml   lt build gt     lt plugins gt       lt plugin gt         lt  -- Build an executable JAR -- gt         lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt         lt artifactId gt maven-jar-plugin lt  artifactId gt         lt version gt 3 1 0 lt  version gt         lt configuration gt           lt archive gt             lt manifest gt               lt addClasspath gt true lt  addClasspath gt               lt classpathPrefix gt lib  lt  classpathPrefix gt               lt mainClass gt com mypackage MyClass lt  mainClass gt             lt  manifest gt           lt  archive gt         lt  configuration gt       lt  plugin gt     lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt    Pick a  lt version gt  appropriate to your project   For Ant  the snippet below should help   lt jar destfile  quot build main checksites jar quot  gt     lt fileset dir  quot build main classes quot   gt     lt zipfileset includes  quot      class quot  src  quot lib main some jar quot   gt     lt manifest gt       lt attribute name  quot Main-Class quot  value  quot com acme checksites Main quot   gt     lt  manifest gt   lt  jar gt   Credits Michael Niemand - For Gradle  plugins       id  java     jar       manifest           attributes                   Main-Class    com mypackage MyClass

User · Answer

Create the folder META-INF and the file MANIFEST MF in that folder with this content  Manifest-Version  1 0 Class-Path    Main-Class   YOUR MAIN CLASS   Then compile including that manifest file

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For my case the problem is  lt pluginManagement gt  under  lt build gt  makes things cannot work properly  My original pom xml   lt build gt     lt pluginManagement gt       lt plugins gt         lt plugin gt           lt groupId gt org springframework boot lt  groupId gt           lt artifactId gt spring-boot-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt                                         lt  pluginManagement gt   lt  build gt   After removing  lt pluginManagement gt   the error is gone

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Just to make one point clear about   Main-Class   lt packagename gt   lt classname gt    If you don t have package you have to ignore that part  like this   Main-Class   lt classname gt

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That should have been java -jar app jar instead of java -jar  app    The -jar option only works if the JAR file is an executable JAR file  which means it must have a manifest file with a Main-Class attribute in it  See Packaging Programs in JAR Files to learn how to create an executable JAR   If it s not an executable JAR  then you ll need to run the program with something like   java -cp app jar com somepackage SomeClass   where com somepackage SomeClass is the class that contains the main method to run the program   What that class is depends on the program  it s impossible to tell from the information you ve supplied

[java] Can't execute jar- file: "no main manifest attribute"

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