Question

How does one create a JAR file programmatically using java.util.jar.JarOutputStream? The JAR file produced by my program looks correct (it extracts fine) but when I try loading a library from it Java complains that it cannot find files which are clearly stored inside it. If I extract the JAR file and use Sun’s jar command-line tool to re-compress it the resulting library works fine. In short, something is wrong with my JAR file.

Please explain how to create a JAR file programmatically, complete with a manifest file.

Answer 1

It turns out that JarOutputStream has three undocumented quirks:

1. Directory names must end with a ‘/’ slash.
2. Paths must use ‘/’ slashes, not ‘\’
3. Entries may not begin with a ‘/’ slash.

Here is the correct way to create a Jar file:

public void run() throws IOException {
    Manifest manifest = new Manifest();
    manifest.getMainAttributes().put(Attributes.Name.MANIFEST_VERSION, "1.0");
    JarOutputStream target = new JarOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("output.jar"), manifest);
    add(new File("inputDirectory"), target);
    target.close();
}

private void add(File source, JarOutputStream target) throws IOException {
    String name = source.getPath().replace("\\", "/");
    if (source.isDirectory()) {
        if (!name.endsWith("/")) {
            name += "/";
        }
        JarEntry entry = new JarEntry(name);
        entry.setTime(source.lastModified());
        target.putNextEntry(entry);
        target.closeEntry();
        for (File nestedFile : source.listFiles()) {
            add(nestedFile, target);
        }
    } else {
        JarEntry entry = new JarEntry(name);
        entry.setTime(source.lastModified());
        target.putNextEntry(entry);
        try (BufferedInputStream in = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(source))) {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
            while (true) {
                int count = in.read(buffer);
                if (count == -1)
                    break;
                target.write(buffer, 0, count);
            }
            target.closeEntry();
        }
    }
}