How to create create a release package with maven ?

I build a desktop application using Maven2.

I'd like to make a release from time to time (just copy all the project's and third party jars into a single dir and generate a run.bat file).

How to do it ?

From stackoverflow

• i would go with the maven release plugin, see:

  • maven release plugin
  • using maven release plugin

• You need to create run.bat yourself and place it in src/main/assembly/scripts, for example. Then you need to create an assembly.xml file in src/main/assembly.

  Here is an example of an assembly.xml file that you might want to use. It creates a tar.gz with all your dependency jars and your run.bat.

  <assembly>
      <id>1.0</id>
      <formats>
          <format>tar.gz</format>
      </formats>
      <includeBaseDirectory>false</includeBaseDirectory>
      <dependencySets>
          <dependencySet>
              <outputDirectory>/lib</outputDirectory>
          </dependencySet>
      </dependencySets>
      <fileSets>
          <fileSet>
              <directory>target</directory>
              <outputDirectory>/lib</outputDirectory>
              <includes>
                  <include>*.jar</include>
              </includes>
          </fileSet>
          <fileSet>
              <directory>src/main/assembly/scripts</directory>
              <outputDirectory>/scripts</outputDirectory>
              <includes>
                  <include>*.bat</include>
              </includes>
          </fileSet>
      </fileSets>
  </assembly>
  

  Finally, in your pom.xml file add the assembly plugin:

      <plugin>
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
          <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
              <descriptors>
                  <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assembly.xml</descriptor>
              </descriptors>
          </configuration>
          <executions>
              <execution>
                  <phase>package</phase>
                  <goals>
                      <goal>attached</goal>
                  </goals>
              </execution>
          </executions>
      </plugin>
  

  Now, when you run "mvn install" you should see your tar.gz created.

  To release run:

  mvn release:prepare
  mvn release:perform

• Just an addition to the answer given by fahdshariff

  Your .bat file will running packaged jar file with a filename reflecting the current version of the application, e.g.

  java -Xms256m -Xmx350m -jar bin\yourApp-1.10.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
  

  On every release this file will need to get updated with a new version name of the application. This can be automatized, too.

  In your pom.xml file add this section:

  <build>
    <resources>
      <resource>
        <filtering>true</filtering>
        <directory>${project.build.sourceDirectory}/../assembly/scripts</directory>
        <includes>
          <include>yourApp.bat</include>
        </includes>
      </resource>
      ...
    </resources>
    ...
  </build>
  

  This asumes that you have put the yourApp.bat file in the folder:

  src/main/assembly/scripts
  

  Content of the yourApp.bat file should look like this:

  java -Xms256m -Xmx350m -jar bin\${project.build.finalName}.jar
  

  Just run the Maven commands and enjoy.

  disown : Good idea, but I couldn't get it to work. I needed to add the filtering flag to the fileset element in the assembly xml instead.

• OK I got it with a little help of fahdshariff's answer

  I used my own assemlby file src/main/assemlby.assembly.xml

  <assembly>
     <id>teleinf</id>
     <formats>
        <format>dir</format>
     </formats>
     <moduleSets>
        <moduleSet>
           <includes>
              <include>pl..........:core</include>
              <include>pl..........:gui</include>
           </includes>
           <binaries>
              <outputDirectory>../../release</outputDirectory>
              <unpack>false</unpack>
           </binaries>
        </moduleSet>
     </moduleSets>
     <fileSets>
        <fileSet>
           <directory>src/main/assembly/</directory>
           <outputDirectory>../../release</outputDirectory>
           <includes>
              <include>*.bat</include>
           </includes>
        </fileSet>
     </fileSets>
  </assembly>
  

  and added following to pom

   <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
             <descriptors>
                <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assembly.xml</descriptor>
             </descriptors>
          </configuration>
       </plugin>
  

  I had to write a run.bat myself - so it's not fully satisfying but will do.