Question

I would like to create a ZIP distributable for my java application with Maven with the following structure :

/lib -> my generated jars (several modules core.jar, app.jar … )

/config -> several configuration files (app.properties, …)

/3rdparty -> all jar dependencies (commons-lang.jar, log4j.jar … )

/scripts -> helper scripts (start.sh … )

I would like to deploy this in any client machine and run as :

java -cp ../lib:../3rdparty -Dprop.file=app.properties [main.class]

I have read quite a lot about the maven assembly plugin but have not found a satisfactory answer on how to ahcieve this.

Answer 1

The Maven Assembly plugin is the right thing to use here. There’s plenty of examples on how to use it out there, here are some:

• Maven creating flat zip assembly
• http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/howto.html
• maven-assembly plugin – how to create nested assemblies