Maven best practice for creating ad hoc zip artifact

Question

Assume that I need to manage an artifact that consists of an aribtrary folder / file structure rolled up as a zip archive. It's not clear to me how to accomplish this in Maven in a way that best fits "the Maven way."

I know that there is no "zip" packaging type. Does this mean there is no generic lifecycle in Maven to simply take what I have in the resources folder, zip it up, and install/deploy it to my repositories?

I'm looking for options, with evaluations of how each option satisifies my requirement to follow the maven way, as I do not wish to incur the obvious penalities of straying from the golden path . . .

It can be done without a `classifier` here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25078028/how-to-create-zip-target-instead-of-jar-in-maven — Adam, Jul 25 '17 at 16:17

score 75 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 03 '17 at 10:55

Decide what classifier you will use for your zip file, for sake of argument let's say it would be sample.

In your project create file assembly/sample.xml

Fill in assembly/sample.xml with something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<assembly
  xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.2"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
    http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.2
      http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.2.xsd"
>
  <id>sample</id>
  <formats>
    <format>zip</format>
  </formats>
  <fileSets>
    <fileSet>
      <outputDirectory>/</outputDirectory>
      <directory>some/directory/in/your/project</directory>
    </fileSet>
  </fileSets>
  <!-- use this section if you want to package dependencies -->
  <dependencySets>
    <dependencySet>
      <outputDirectory>lib</outputDirectory>
      <excludes>
        <exclude>*:pom</exclude>
      </excludes>
      <useStrictFiltering>true</useStrictFiltering>
      <useProjectArtifact>false</useProjectArtifact>
      <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependencySet>
  </dependencySets>
</assembly>

Add this to your pom's build section

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>create-distribution</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>single</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <descriptors>
                <descriptor>assembly/sample.xml</descriptor>
              </descriptors>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

As a result it should create and install you-project-name-VERSION-sample.zip.

I suggest you read chapter on assemblies from Sonatype's maven book: https://books.sonatype.com/mvnref-book/reference/assemblies.html

Also, read assembly format specification: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly.html

But what packaging type would be most appropriate to use in the pom? Or should you just use the default (java) even though there is no Java source. — William, Mar 31 '14 at 02:06
@William. If there is no Java code associated with the project, use pom — Alexander Pogrebnyak, Mar 31 '14 at 22:32

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 18 '16 at 02:21

Fill in assembly/sample.xml with something like this:

<assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd">
  <id>install</id>
  <baseDirectory>/</baseDirectory>
  <formats>
  <format>zip</format>
</formats>
<fileSets>
  <fileSet>
    <includes>
      <include>README*</include>
      <include>*.sh</include>
    </includes>
  </fileSet>
  <fileSet>
    <directory>target/classes/</directory>
    <outputDirectory>resources</outputDirectory>
    <includes>
      <include>*.properties</include>
       <include>*.xml</include>
    </includes>
    <lineEnding>dos</lineEnding>
  </fileSet>
  <!-- 
  <fileSet>
    <directory>target/</directory>
    <outputDirectory>lib</outputDirectory>
    <includes>
      <include>*.jar</include>
    </includes>
    <lineEnding>dos</lineEnding>
  </fileSet>
   -->
</fileSets>
 <!-- use this section if you want to package dependencies -->
  <dependencySets>
    <dependencySet>
      <outputDirectory>lib</outputDirectory>
      <excludes>
        <exclude>*:pom</exclude>
      </excludes>
      <useStrictFiltering>true</useStrictFiltering>
      <useProjectArtifact>true</useProjectArtifact>
      <scope>runtime</scope>
    </dependencySet>
  </dependencySets>
</assembly>

add below codes in pom.xml file.

<plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <descriptor>assembly/sample.xml</descriptor>
            </configuration>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <phase>package</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>single</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>

run commands as mvn package -P dev -Dmaven.test.skip

will create the zip files that include : xxxx.zip -lib/.jar -resources/.xml/properties -readme -start.sh

Already answered question. You do not bring any additionnal information. — lpratlong, Apr 03 '17 at 15:45

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 10 '18 at 07:16

In your maven project create a folder assembly. Add zip.xml file in the assembly folder. Add below code in zip.xml to package the content of your project in to zip.

<assembly
xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd">
<id>zip</id>
<formats>
    <format>zip</format>
</formats>
<includeBaseDirectory>false</includeBaseDirectory>
<fileSets>
    <fileSet>
        <directory>directoryName of your project</directory>
        <outputDirectory>/</outputDirectory>
    </fileSet>
</fileSets>

Maven best practice for creating ad hoc zip artifact

3 Answers3

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