Gradle - add directory to classpath

Question

My application requires that a \\config directory be available on the classpath when it looks for configurations files under the directory. I currently have dependencies configured like so, though this is probably not the correct way to make a directory available to my application:

dependencies {
    ... //runtime, compile dependencies pulled from repositories
    runtime files('config')
}

I am using the application plugin to create a standalone zip for my project. If my \\config directory has \\config\\subdir , file1 , file2 , then the plugin produces a build\\install directory with the following structure:

| build
| --|install
| ----|bin
| ------ projectName
| ------ projectName.bat
| ----|lib
| ------ dependency1.jar
| ------ dependency2.jar
| ------|subdir
| ------ file1
| ------ file2

This does not work for my application because it explicitly expects a \\config directory

However, this is the directory structure that I need:

| build
| --|install
| ----|bin
| ------ projectName
| ------ projectName.bat
| ----|lib
| ------ dependency1.jar
| ------ dependency2.jar
| ----|config
| ------|subdir
| ------ file1
| ------ file2

How can I make gradle add another directory to the build and specify it as part of the classpath for the generated startup scripts?

Answer 1

The application plugin documentation says:

Static files to be added to the distribution can be simply added to src/dist

I would try putting your config directory into src/dist/lib and continue adding it to your classpath with runtime files('src/dist/lib/config')

Note: working around this defect means that config has to go into /lib under src/dist

Answer 2

You may try this:

project('project-name') {
   apply plugin: 'application'
   mainClassName = "your.main.Class"

   startScripts {
       classpath += files('src/dist/lib/conf')
   }

More information can be found here .

Answer 3

jar {
    manifest {
        attributes('Class-Path' : '<directory>' )
    }
}

The above worked for me