Apache Maven JAR Plugin

This plugin provides the capability to build jars. If you like to sign jars please use the Maven Jarsigner Plugin.

Goals Overview

  • jar:jar create a jar file for your project classes inclusive resources.
  • jar:test-jar create a jar file for your project test classes .

Major Version Upgrade to version 3.0.0

Please note that the following parameter has been completely removed from the plugin configuration:

  • useDefaultManifestFile

    If you need to define your own MANIFEST.MF file you can simply achieve that via Maven Archiver configuration like in the following example:

    <project>
      ...
      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.2</version>
            <configuration>
              <archive>
                <manifestFile>${project.build.outputDirectory}/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF</manifestFile>
              </archive>
            </configuration>
            ...
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
      ...
    </project>

Usage

General instructions on how to use the JAR Plugin can be found on the usage page. Some more specific use cases are described in the examples given below.

In case you still have questions regarding the plugin's usage, please have a look at the FAQ and feel free to contact the user mailing list. The posts to the mailing list are archived and could already contain the answer to your question as part of an older thread. Hence, it is also worth browsing/searching the mail archive.

If you feel like the plugin is missing a feature or has a defect, you can fill a feature request or bug report in our issue tracker. When creating a new issue, please provide a comprehensive description of your concern. Especially for fixing bugs it is crucial that the developers can reproduce your problem. For this reason, entire debug logs, POMs or most preferably little demo projects attached to the issue are very much appreciated. Of course, patches are welcome, too. Contributors can check out the project from our source repository and will find supplementary information in the guide to helping with Maven.

Archiver Configuration

The plugin use Maven Archiver to handle jar content and manifest configuration.

You can have a look at the Maven Archiver Documentation to understand how to setup this.

You might also want to consult the Guide to Working with Manifests.

Examples

To provide you with better understanding of some usages of the JAR Plugin, you can take a look at the following examples: