How to exclude lib-provided from spring boot

Question

My spring boot war is simply too large and I want to make some optimalisation. SPring boot has the option to run war with java -jar, that is why lib-provided (with all provided dependecies) is still inside the war even though the dependecies are not needed there (I will never run it as standalone). Can I somehow disable this clever functionality, so that I can save some space?

UPDATE: I am using Maven and spring boot maven plugin.

Answer 1

By Default Spring Boot Maven plugin will repackage your application into a executable WAR/JAR.

The original (i.e. non executable) artifact is renamed to .original by default but it is also possible to keep the original artifact using a custom classifier. refer the Spring Documentation

For Example:

If your app is named as MyApplication and you are trying to package it into a WAR, The following steps will happen:

1. The application will first be built as usual and you would get MyApplication-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.war
2. Then spring boot maven plugin will repackage it into an executable WAR (with the same name) and it will rename the original packaged application to MyApplication-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.war.original.
3. You are now having two packaged applications:
   • MyApplication-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.war (Spring boot executable)
   • MyApplication-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.war.original(Non-Executable application)

You can either remove the Spring Boot Maven Plugin all together or use the Non-Executable version.