如何在Maven项目中包含编译的二进制文件？

Question

I'm developing an open source project and am trying to figure out how to incorporate the JPen library into it. This is an open source library available on sourceforge that wraps drivers so you can use digital tablets in Java.

Unfortunately the project no longer seems to be maintained and the pom included in the source does not work. I've spent some time tweaking the pom file, but am unable to get it to build. Fortunately, the compiled binaries do work and I can use them in non-maven projects that I build and run with Ant.

I'd like to get this working with maven cut can't find any info on how to do so. Since this project is not published on central and since I can't build the project on my own machine, I'm left trying to figure out how to get Maven to recognize the compiled binaries as a dependency. These libraries include some compiled binaries using JNI, so that may throw in a twist beyond just including a jar file.

Anyone know how I would add this dependency to my maven project?

Answer 1

In your case the fast way to solve using Maven it to install the jar as a dependency manually, as explained in the Maven documentation linked in my comment .

You can use the following command:

mvn install:install-file -Dfile=<path-to-file> -DgroupId=<group-id> \
-DartifactId=<artifact-id> -Dversion=<version> -Dpackaging=<packaging>

Providing a proper group-id , artifact-id , version and packagin you have all the info to import the dependency in your pom file:

<dependencies>
    ...
    <dependency>
        <groupId><group-id></groupId>
        <artifactId><artifact-id></artifactId>
        <version><version></version>
    </dependency>
    ...
</dependencies>

That will solve the build problem on your machine.

If you share your project, than you have to perform a step further.

If you share in your company, than is a good practice to have an internal repository like artifactory or nexus .

In such case you just need to upload your new local dependency manually to your company repository and then all your coulleuges should be able to build your project without any manual action.

If you want to publish your project as an open source project and make it available for every one, than you have a different path to follow.

You can just add the dependency on your pom, then write on the README how to install manually the jar and where to obtain it.

The last possibility I see, is that you take ownership of the project making a fork.

That should be always possible with open source license, but take care and have a look of it.

Once you fork the code, you have to build it your own, I read you can't do it, but you should fix the problems and make a build.

At that point you're able to publish on Maven central repository.

A good starting point is to contact the original author and ask for permission and help to do that.