Add resources and config files to your JAR using Gradle

Question

How do I add config files or any other resources into my jar using gradle?

My project structure:

src/main/java/com/perseus/.. --- Java packages (source files)

src/main/java/config/*.xml --- Spring config files

Expected jar structure:

com/perseus/.. --- Java packages (class files)

config/*.xml --- Spring config files

Wellington Souza · Answer 1 · 2018-11-20T21:05:00.507

114

I came across this post searching how to add an extra directory for resources. I found a solution that may be useful to someone. Here is my final configuration to get that:

sourceSets {
    main {
        resources {
            srcDirs "src/main/resources", "src/main/configs"
        }
    }
}

edited Nov 20 '18 at 21:05

answered Aug 16 '16 at 18:26

Wellington Souza

2,200
2
22
33

6

This is a much simpler solution than the accepted answer – Stewart Sep 19 '18 at 11:38

score 87 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '14 at 20:55

87

Move the config files from src/main/java to src/main/resources.

answered Jul 13 '14 at 20:55

Peter Niederwieser

121,412
21
324
259

1

Works for me, looks like the easiest and "most correct" way to go about achieving this. – EM-Creations Nov 11 '15 at 15:51
1

This answer suggests a work-around rather than a solution, and Gradle provides a solution. – Terrible Tadpole May 12 '20 at 10:35
3

@TerribleTadpole this is the correct solution. All other are workarounds. – jannis Sep 01 '20 at 12:06

score 73 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 09 '18 at 06:27

73

Thanks guys, I was migrating an existing project to Gradle and didn't like the idea of changing the project structure that much.

I have figured it out, thought this information could be useful to beginners.

Here is a sample task from my 'build.gradle':

version = '1.0.0'

jar {
   baseName = 'analytics'
   from('src/main/java') {
      include 'config/**/*.xml'
   }

   manifest {
       attributes 'Implementation-Title': 'Analytics Library', 'Implementation-Version': version
   }
}

edited Jan 09 '18 at 06:27

Siddharth

9,349
16
86
148

answered Jul 14 '14 at 03:50

Pritesh Mhatre

3,847
2
23
27

39

It's more accurate to reconfigure the source set. Something like `sourceSets.main.resources { srcDirs = ["src/main/java"]; exclude "**/*.java" }`. – Peter Niederwieser Jul 14 '14 at 05:19
1

Thanks @PeterNiederwieser!! Been trying to get my log4j.xml file to be included in my executable jar that I was building using shadow. I too was dealing with an older project and could not readily change the directory structure. Your suggestion was exactly what I needed!! :D – Piko May 15 '15 at 20:58
@PeterNiederwieser - I notice in Java plugin documentation that resources is already defined to exclude *.java. "Contains only resources, and excludes any .java files found in the resource source directories." – Joe Bowbeer Jun 08 '15 at 20:45

score 31 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 13 '14 at 15:49

31

By default any files you add to src/main/resources will be included in the jar.

If you need to change that behavior for whatever reason, you can do so by configuring sourceSets.

This part of the documentation has all the details

answered Jul 13 '14 at 15:49

geoand

60,071
24
172
190

6

Would you know why only the content of `.../resources/` are included instead of the _resources_ directory __with__ the content? – sargas Sep 29 '15 at 03:44
@sargas You should probably start a new question where you can easily include all the context. It's hard to get much information in the comment section :( – geoand Sep 29 '15 at 08:28

Mickäel A. · Answer 5 · 2015-08-26T11:36:05.297

I ran into the same problem. I had a PNG file in a Java package and it wasn't exported in the final JAR along with the sources, which caused the app to crash upon start (file not found).

None of the answers above solved my problem but I found the solution on the Gradle forums. I added the following to my build.gradle file :

sourceSets.main.resources.srcDirs = [ "src/" ]
sourceSets.main.resources.includes = [ "**/*.png" ]

It tells Gradle to look for resources in the src folder, and ask it to include only PNG files.

EDIT: Beware that if you're using Eclipse, this will break your run configurations and you'll get a main class not found error when trying to run your program. To fix that, the only solution I've found is to move the image(s) to another directory, res/ for example, and to set it as srcDirs instead of src/.

I used the `+=` operator to add my dirs to the existing dirs: e.g. `sourceSets.main.resources.srcDirs += [ "src/main/java" ]` — TmTron, Jan 12 '18 at 16:01

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 18 '19 at 17:03

3

Be aware that the path under src/main/resources must match the package path of your .class files wishing to access the resource. See my answer here.

answered Mar 18 '19 at 17:03

mike rodent

14,126
11
103
157

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 25 '21 at 13:26

As I have answered here, for more granularity while configuring the resource directories it's also possible to use srcDir.

sourceSets {
    main {
        resources {
            srcDir "src/main/resources"

            srcDir "src/main"
            include "configs/**/*.xml"
        }
    }
}

So, if you have src/main/java/config/*.xml jar structure will have configs/*.xml as asked.

Mahozad · Answer 8 · 2022-05-04T08:08:10.910

This is for Kotlin DSL (build.gradle.kts).

Add the following code to your subproject or app build.gradle.kts file:

sourceSets {
    main {
        resources {
            srcDirs("src/main/configs", "src/main/misc")
        }
    }
    // OR another notation
    // main.get().resources.srcDirs("src/main/configs", "src/main/misc")
}

As mentioned by other answers, files in src/main/resources/ are automatically added to JAR. The srcDirs() function in above code adds its given paths to that existing path so files in those directories will be included in the JAR as well. You can add as many entries as you want.

Note that after adding the above code and syncing your changes with the IDE, some IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio show a helpful icon for those directories to indicate they are resources root directories:

Add resources and config files to your JAR using Gradle

8 Answers8

Linked

Related