Developers typically use the jar command-line tool or integrated development environments (IDEs) like Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA to build archives.
While a JAR holds your classes, it doesn't automatically include the external libraries your code depends on. Developers often have to create "fat JARs" (or "Uber-JARs") to bundle everything together, which can be tricky to configure manually. java archive
You typically use tools like Maven Shade Plugin or Gradle Shadow Plugin . These tools unpack dependency JARs and merge them into your output JAR. Developers typically use the jar command-line tool or
<build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.3.0</version> </plugin> </plugins> </build> You typically use tools like Maven Shade Plugin
In professional development, you rarely use the jar command manually. You use build automation tools.
While the standard jar command-line tool is robust, most developers find it more efficient to use build automation tools like Gradle or IntelliJ IDEA to handle the packaging.