On 12/2/05, Paul Smith <phhs80@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 12/2/05, John Summerfied <debian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > No. Read your manuals:-) > > Sure! Could you please suggest to me the relevant documentation? Basically, for the purposes of execution, you can pretend that .jar files are shell scripts that you call an interpreter (in this case java) to run. The only caveat is that you can't use the convenient #!/bin/java notation at the top of the .jar file. ;-) There is nothing special about jar files, they're basically zip files. They're not programs themselves. Your java interpreter will know what to do with the contents of the jar file when you use it assuming the jar was packed correctly, with use by java in mind (remember, it's just a zip file, the logic for the interpreter is included at archive creation). I hope the following pointers are useful. >From http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/tooldocs/windows/java.html -jar Execute a program encapsulated in a JAR file. The first argument is the name of a JAR file instead of a startup class name. In order for this option to work, the manifest of the JAR file must contain a line of the form Main-Class: classname. Here, classname identifies the class having the public static void main(String[] args) method that serves as your application's starting point. See the Jar tool reference page and the Jar trail of the Java Tutorial for information about working with Jar files and Jar-file manifests. When you use this option, the JAR file is the source of all user classes, and other user class path settings are ignored. >From http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/jar/jarGuide.html What is Jar? Jar stands for Java ARchive. It's a file format based on the popular ZIP file format and is used for aggregating many files into one. Although Jar can be used as a general archiving tool, the primary motivation for its development was so that Java applets and their requisite components (.class files, images and sounds) can be downloaded to a browser in a single HTTP transaction, rather than opening a new connection for each piece. >From http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/jar/basics/run.html JAR Files as Applications You can run JAR-packaged applications with the Java interpreter. The basic command is: java -jar jar-file The -jar flag tells the interpreter that the application is packaged in the JAR file format. -- Chris "`The enemy we fight has no respect for human life or human rights. They don't deserve our sympathy,' he said. `But this isn't about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies.' - Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona
