JDK tools.jar as maven dependency

Question

I would like to put JDK tools.jar as compile dependency. I found some examples that indicate to use the systemPath property like the following:

<dependency>   <groupId>com.sun</groupId>   <artifactId>tools</artifactId>   <scope>system</scope>   <systemPath>${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar</systemPath> </dependency> 

The problem is that the path is not correct for Mac Os X (however it is correct for Windows and Linux). For it, the correct path is ${java.home}/../Classes/classes.jar.

I am looking for a way in order to define a maven property such that if system is detected as Mac Os X, value is set to ${java.home}/../Classes/classes.jar, otherwise it is set to ${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar (like it is possible to do with ANT). Does someone has an idea ?

Answer 1

That's what profiles are for, extract the path to a property, setup profiles for windows, OSX, etc, and define the property values appropriately.

Here's the doc page that discussing profiles for OSes: Maven Local Settings Model

It should endup looking something like this:

  <profiles>     <profile>       <id>windows_profile</id>       <activation>         <os>           <family>Windows</family>         </os>       </activation>       <properties>         <toolsjar>${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar</toolsjar>       </properties>     </profile>     <profile>       <id>osx_profile</id>       <activation>         <os>           <family>mac</family>         </os>       </activation>       <properties>         <toolsjar>${java.home}/../Classes/classes.jar</toolsjar>       </properties>     </profile>   </profiles> 

Answer 2

Thank you for introducing me maven profiles.

I have used profile as mentioned above and by activating a profile based on the presence of the desired file :

<profiles>     <profile>         <id>default-profile</id>         <activation>             <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>             <file>                 <exists>${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar</exists>             </file>         </activation>         <properties>             <toolsjar>${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar</toolsjar>         </properties>     </profile>     <profile>         <id>mac-profile</id>         <activation>             <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>             <file>                 <exists>${java.home}/../Classes/classes.jar</exists>             </file>         </activation>         <properties>             <toolsjar>${java.home}/../Classes/classes.jar</toolsjar>         </properties>     </profile> </profiles> 

I posted this answer to highlight a mistake in the previous post : the property section can only be used in activation section in order to activate a profile based on the existence of the specified property. In order to define a property, the properties section must be used like above.