How to make jar file independent?

Question

Please, could you explain me why my jar file doesn't execute outside the target folder? And how can I do it independent? To copy/paste it to another directory.

When I execute my jar outside target folder, NoClassDefFound error is produced. It can't load jars from dependencies.

This is my pom.xml:

<properties>
        <docx4j.version>3.3.0</docx4j.version>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <!-- Build an executable JAR -->
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.6</version>
                <configuration>
                    <archive>
                        <manifest>
                            <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
                            <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix>
                            <mainClass>com.epam.executor.Main</mainClass>
                        </manifest>
                    </archive>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <!-- Build an executable JAR with runtime dependencies so that this program can be executed from command line using java -jar command -->
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.10</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>copy-dependencies</id>
                        <phase>package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/lib</outputDirectory>
                            <overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>
                            <overWriteSnapshots>false</overWriteSnapshots>
                            <overWriteIfNewer>true</overWriteIfNewer>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.docx4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>docx4j</artifactId>
            <version>${docx4j.version}</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

I execute my jar via this command with 3 parameters:

java -jar DocumentTemplate-1.0.jar D:\Trash\xml1.xml D:\Trash\template.docx D:\Trash\results.docx

Answer 1

I think you need to create one jar which includes all its executable dependencies also. I have been you one-jar plugin for it. try below plugin .

  <plugin>
    <!-- Build an executable JAR -->
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.6</version>
    <configuration>
      <archive>
        <manifest>
          <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
          <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix>
          <mainClass>com.kulhade.elasticsearch.Indexer</mainClass>
        </manifest>
      </archive>
    </configuration>
  </plugin>
  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.dstovall</groupId>
    <artifactId>onejar-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.4.4</version>
    <executions>
      <execution>
        <goals>
          <goal>one-jar</goal>
        </goals>
      </execution>
    </executions>
  </plugin>

Answer 2

Copy Dependencies to a specific directory

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <id>copy-dependencies</id>
      <phase>prepare-package</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.lib</outputDirectory>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

Make the Jar Executable and Classpath Aware

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
  <configuration>
    <archive>
      <manifest>
        <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
        <classpathPrefix>${project.build.finalName}.lib/</classpathPrefix>
        <mainClass>${fully.qualified.main.class}</mainClass>
      </manifest>
    </archive>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

At this point the jar is actually executable with external classpath elements.

$ java -jar target/${project.build.finalName}.jar