Does maven have an ability to pack single *.dll to jar without any sources?

Question

I'd like to add *.dlls as third party libs to my repository and during packaging process just pack them to *.jar, sign them and copy to some specific folder.

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Signing and coping are well done and work correctly (as expected by using maven-dependency-plugin and maven-jarsigner-plugin). But I didn't find any method to automatically pack single dll to jar (without any sources like maven-assembly-plugin does).

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Solution that I see by the time: add to my repository not a "pure" dll, but already packed to jar lib (packed by myself)... but it's not a good idea, I guess)

Answer 1

It sounds like you've successfully retrieved your .dll (with dependency plugin) and signed it (jarsigner plugin), and it's somewhere in your ${project.build.directory} (which defaults to target).

If that's correct, give this a try:

• Define the packaging of your project as jar
• Retrieve dlls

• Make sure the jarsigner:sign goal is bound to the prepare-package phase. It binds to package by default and we need to ensure jarsigner:sign runs before jar:jar.

  <plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jarsigner-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.2</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <id>sign</id>
      <phase>prepare-package</phase>       <!-- important -->
      <goals>
        <goal>sign</goal>
      </goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
  </plugin>
  

• Configure the jar plugin to include the signed dll(s)

  <plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>2.4</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <!-- using this ID merges this config with default -->
      <!-- So it should not be necessary to specify phase or goals -->
      <!-- Change classes directory because it will look in target/classes 
           by default and that probably isn't where your dlls are.  If
           the dlls are in target then directoryContainingSignedDlls is
           simply ${project.build.directory}. -->
      <id>default-jar</id>   
      <configuration>
        <classesDirectory>directoryContainingSignedDlls</classesDirectory>
        <includes>
          <include>**/*.dll</include>
        </includes>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
  </plugin>
  

• Now, running mvn clean package should give you a jar containing your signed dlls.

• If JACOB requires manifest config there are docs explaining how to do this.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I would recommend to pack your dll's as a zip archive via maven-assembly-plugin and let that module deploy the zip archive as attached to your usual pom. The packaging of that project should be pom instead of default. I would be a little bit confused if i download a jar and find dll's inside it, but if you prefer you could create jar via the maven-assembly-plugin or use the maven-jar-plugin.