On August 15, 2001 at 19:47, "Vincent Massol" wrote:
> I agree. I am just not sure that including one jar inside another is
> something good and possible (is it done anywhere else ?).
In a controled environment, merging jars can make application
rollovers/deployments easier since you do not have to worry about
multi-jar file dependencies. Just set the classpath to just a
single jar file and go. Kind of like a static link model vs
a dynamic linking model.
Of course, merging is not good for alot of situations, but it
has some uses. To avoid the tedious unjar/jar steps using the
jar command, I wrote a Java program to do the merging in a more
efficient, and configurable, manner. It attempts to keep manifest
information so versioning information can be preserved in the
merged jar file if version information needs to be queried during
production. Selectable merging of jar file entries can also
be done. There are some manifiest attributes that I am not
sure on how to handle, but it has not been an issue in the usage
contexts I have been in.
--ewh
