Too long line in manifest file while trying to create jar

Question

I am getting a too long line error while trying to build a jar. the long line in the manifest file is the Class-Path line as the application uses a lot of third-party libraries. needless to say, I am using Windows :-( and Eclipse Java 1.6

I tried Class-Path: lib or Class-Path: lib/ but they did not work.

Solution 1

The classpath is too long due to the number of jar files in it. «No line may be longer than 72 bytes (not characters), in its UTF8-encoded form.» [from docs: java 5, java 8; «Line length» section].

use as the following way to resolve the problem:

(1) use separate lines, to avoid too long a line for java package name lists

(2) type a preceding space before each folloing lines, for example:

Class-Path:
 ...jar
 ...jar
 ...jar

Solution 2

The single character didn't work for me (Java 8, IntelliJ). I used two characters at the start and no characters at the end of the line (wasn't apparent from the above example) and two new lines at the end, e.g.

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Main-Class: com.mypackage.MyApp
Implementation-Version: 2.0.0
Class-Path:  newLibs/asjava.zip
  newLibs/activation.jar
  newLibs/axis-ant.jar
  newLibs/axis.jar
  newLibs/bcel-5.1.jar
  newLibs/commons-discovery-0.2.jar
  newLibs/commons-logging-1.0.4.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-api-jdo-4.2.0-release.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-api-jpa-4.1.4.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-cache-4.0.4.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-core-4.1.5.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-geospatial-4.1.0-release.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-guava-4.1.3.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-java8-4.2.0-release.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-jdo-query-4.2.0-release.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-jodatime-4.1.1.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-jpa-query-4.0.4.jar
  newLibs/datanucleus-rdbms-4.1.6.jar
  newLibs/dom4j-1.6.1.jar
  newLibs/ehcache-1.1.jar
  newLibs/ehcache-core-2.2.0.jar
  newLibs/geronimo-jta_1.1_spec-1.1.jar
  newLibs/guava-15.0.jar
  newLibs/h2-1.3.168.jar
  newLibs/ibmjsse.jar
  newLibs/javax.jdo-3.2.0-m3.jar
  newLibs/javax.persistence-2.1.1.jar
  newLibs/jaxrpc.jar
  newLibs/jdo-api-3.1-rc1.jar
  newLibs/jdom.jar
  newLibs/joda-time-1.6.jar
  newLibs/jtds-1.2.jar
  newLibs/log4j-1.2.14.jar
  newLibs/mail.jar
  newLibs/saaj.jar
  newLibs/servlet-api.jar
  newLibs/wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar
  newLibs/xercesImpl.jar
  newLibs/xml-apis.jar

I also avoided placing multiple jars on one line as that didn't appear to work (even with lines less than 72 bytes).

What led me to arrive at this solution was (1) I kept getting various class not found exceptions, of course and (2) When I examined the generated manifest file in the jar file, the spacing between the jars was missing - I assume that it was silently failing because there was no reported error apart from the class not found exceptions. My working, generated manifest file looks like this:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Implementation-Version: 2.0.0
Class-Path:  newLibs/asjava.zip newLibs/activation.jar newLibs/axis-an
 t.jar newLibs/axis.jar newLibs/bcel-5.1.jar newLibs/commons-discovery
 -0.2.jar newLibs/commons-logging-1.0.4.jar newLibs/datanucleus-api-jd
 o-4.2.0-release.jar newLibs/datanucleus-api-jpa-4.1.4.jar newLibs/dat
 anucleus-cache-4.0.4.jar newLibs/datanucleus-core-4.1.5.jar newLibs/d
 atanucleus-geospatial-4.1.0-release.jar newLibs/datanucleus-guava-4.1
 .3.jar newLibs/datanucleus-java8-4.2.0-release.jar newLibs/datanucleu
 s-jdo-query-4.2.0-release.jar newLibs/datanucleus-jodatime-4.1.1.jar 
 newLibs/datanucleus-jpa-query-4.0.4.jar newLibs/datanucleus-rdbms-4.1
 .6.jar newLibs/dom4j-1.6.1.jar newLibs/ehcache-1.1.jar newLibs/ehcach
 e-core-2.2.0.jar newLibs/geronimo-jta_1.1_spec-1.1.jar newLibs/guava-
 15.0.jar newLibs/h2-1.3.168.jar newLibs/ibmjsse.jar newLibs/javax.jdo
 -3.2.0-m3.jar newLibs/javax.persistence-2.1.1.jar newLibs/jaxrpc.jar 
 newLibs/jdo-api-3.1-rc1.jar newLibs/jdom.jar newLibs/joda-time-1.6.ja
 r newLibs/jtds-1.2.jar newLibs/junit-3.8.1.jar newLibs/log4j-1.2.14.j
 ar newLibs/mail.jar newLibs/saaj.jar newLibs/servlet-api.jar newLibs/
 wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar newLibs/xercesImpl.jar newLibs/xml-apis.jar
Main-Class: com.mypackage.MyApp

Solution 3

The answer of Voodoochild put me on the right track but wasn't so clear to me so quoting the specs:

No line may be longer than 72 bytes (not characters), in its UTF8-encoded form. If a value would make the initial line longer than this, it should be continued on extra lines (each starting with a single SPACE).

Manifest example:

Manifest-Version: 1.0
Main-Class: com.mypackage.MyApp
Class-path: commons-beanutils-1.7.0.jar commons-collections-3.1.jar
 commons-dbcp-1.2.2.jar commons-discovery.jar commons-lang-2.1.jar
 commons-pool-1.2.jar ezjcom18.jar jbcl.jar log4j-1.2.14.jar
 sqljdbc.jar torque-3.2-rc2.jar 

Solution 4

The multi-space solutions up there didn't work for me for some reason. So I looked at how Eclipse's export-runnable-jar dialog does it. It adds an Ascii "LF" and then a space as a linebreak. In Java: char LF = (char) 0x0A;

View more solutions

Comments

[fadmaa]

perfect... a space at the end of each line and one at the beginning. Thanks a million

[Malvon]

Also, if the name of jar file exceeds 72 bytes and carries over on to the next line, it should not have that extra single space (I modified your sample to include such scenario).

[Timofey Gorshkov]

@fadmaa, only at the beginning.

[Coder Guy]

The temperamental nature of this file format boggles the mind, but it seems that the two spaces immediately following Class-Path: a space at the end of the line and one before each line, and finally an extra new-line at the end did the trick. Wow, I think I will pour myself some strong drink now.