JAR file creation using ANT

Author: Kasper B. Graversen, 12/12/07
Keywords: ANT, Build script
Abstract: This article explains best practices when creating JAR files using ANT.
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JAR file creation using ANT

A JAR file is no more than a ZIP file containing compiled java code and other resources such as images and sounds and a MANIFEST file. The manifest file, I have only used to define class paths to resources external to the jar file itself. This enables the class loader to load these resources along with the jar file rather than fetching these resources during running the application. 
<target name="-init">
	<properties name="distro.version" value="1.0"/>
    <tstamp>
        <format property="TODAY" pattern="yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss" />
    </tstamp>
    <buildnumber file="build.num"/> <!-- let ANT auto increment a build number -->
</target>

<target name="distro" depends="-init, -compile"  description="creates a distribution jar file">
    <jar destfile="${distro.dir}/${distro.name}-${distro.version}.jar"
        basedir="${dir.build}"
        includes="**/*.class"
        update="true"
        duplicate="fail"
    >
        <manifest>
            <attribute name="Built-By" value="Kasper B. Graversen"/>
            <attribute name="Implementation-Version"  value="${distro.version}-build${build.number}"/>
            <attribute name="Built-Date" value="${TODAY}"/>
        </manifest>
    </jar>
</target>
See also http://ant.apache.org/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html for more info on the jar task.



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