How to configure Maven build for Java project with external dependencies?

Question

I'm trying to create automated solution for building with maven. My vision is to have a Maven build, which creates JAR file from my project and then just copies all the dependencies as JARs to some sub-directory in "target" folder.

I do not want to use Shade or Assembly (so I do not want to extract the content of other JARs and include it in one "super-JAR", because the project is more complicated and it breaks when I'm including all the JARs in one file).

How can I do such build POM?

Answer 1

I don't see here any problem. Just create maven pom.xml with <packaging>jar</packaging> By default it should not pack into your jar all dependent libraries.

<plugin>
  <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>install</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/lib</outputDirectory>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

Answer 2

Related with your latest comment, use this plugin to add the main class in the manifest:

        <plugin>
            <!-- Build an executable JAR -->
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <archive>
                    <manifest>
                        <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
                        <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix>
                        <mainClass>com.test.YourMainClass</mainClass>
                    </manifest>
                </archive>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>