Specifying relative path to binary file inside java library

Question

I am writing a library that contains references to a few non-java binary files. (The java library is used to make sub-proc calls to these).

I has specified the path to the folder containing these files using this line of code:

String binaryFolder = System.getProperty("user.dir") + "/externalbinaries/";

Of course this path does not hold when the library is included in another java application.

Is there a way to specify the path relative to the project root?

I have seen answers using the classloader:

 binaryFolder = classLoader.getResource("bin/ext/").getPath();

but this path to the resource folder also does not hold when imported as a .jar library in an application.

I am using java 1.8.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

what you describe with the user.dir is not really a relative path, because the result of that statement is actually an absolute path, but it is not a "fixed" path because the user working directory can change, i assume thats what you meant with "relative"?

what about user.home instead, that should be a fixed path?