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Please refer to http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=92925 In particular: > If the classpath contains a folder of classes or resources, none of the > classpath elements are copied to the dist folder. It is not clear why the above is so. I would suggest that the README include a pointer to a page on wiki.netbeans.org which can then be edited and improved independently of the codebase. I am assigning P2 to do this issue because there have been several forum posts on users running into issues when running the jar in dist directory via 'java -jar'. (One of the reasons seems to be missing library files like .dll or .so. When something like that happens, users seem to find it hard to diagnose and figure out the reason with existing information).
John, I agree with reporter. Can you create such a wiki page?
See also: http://www.netbeans.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=nbusers&msgNo=95463
Reassigning to Patrick. As I understand, the IDE still does not copy over directories of classes that are on the classpath, correct? Ruth, is there a wiki page already set up on wiki.netbeans.org covering this that we could point to?
> As I understand, the IDE still does not copy over directories of classes that are on the classpath, correct? I encounter this bug mainly when the antscript comes across non-Java resources (such as native libraries!) anywhere on the classpath, no matter whether in directories or individually. When you create the dist/lib/ directory manually and copy the missing resources in, the app works fine (http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=92925). I haven't heard a technical explanation yet why the IDE should not be able to copy those files automatically, NetBeans seems to break Java's promise of being platform-independent... The un-userfriendly part is, the current Readme basically says "the distribution works, unless when it doesn't." Even saying "If the classpath contains a folder of classes or resources, ..." doesn't help: Even if you add resources individually to the classpath, the product is still not distributable. (Or is there a comma missing before "or resources"?) It's very untransparent that the dist ant target just bails out silently(!) for an unknown subset of files, and at the same time, the readme.txt claims that the JAR is ready and works. > Ruth, is there a wiki page already set up on wiki.netbeans.org covering this that we could point to? http://wiki.netbeans.org/wiki/view/FaqpackageAndDistribute We could add the info here.
fixed New text: * Only JAR files are copied to the lib folder.\n\ If the classpath contains other types of files or folders, none of the\n\ classpath elements are copied to the lib folder. In such a case,\n\ you need to copy the classpath elements to the lib folder manually after the build.\n\ I did not link to the wiki as I don't see what info we could add there that would make things better. /cvs/java/j2seproject/copylibstask/src/org/netbeans/modules/java/j2seproject/copylibstask/Bundle.properties,v <-- Bundle.properties new revision: 1.3; previous revision: 1.2
Suggested modification to the text (though my suggested text looks too verbose to myself..): If the classpath contains only jar files, then those jar files will be copied over to dist/lib directory. If the classpath contains any other type of files, like a directory of class files or images and other resources, then no files (including the jar files) will be copied over. Though i had requested the pointer to twiki, i can see both the pros and cons of having such a twiki page. My original intention for requesting a twiki page was to explain the 'why'. The readme tells what is done by the ide; but why it does so is not explained. I thought a reference to a page that explained the why would be useful to the users. (The twiki page can include a link to http://wiki.netbeans.org/wiki/view/FaqpackageAndDistribute but the contents in FaqpackageAndDistribute is not what i am requesting). For instance, why are not images copied over? Is it because, we recommend that users put images and other resources as part of the application jar and access them via getResource(), as java recommends? Also, why are not directories of classes copied? Is it because apps should preferably be distributed as jars and we would like to enforce that? And what about .dll and .so library files? In most cases, placing these in dist/lib works fine but why does NetBeans not copy them? I think a twiki page that is kind of like a FAQ for why NetBeans does what it does would be useful to users.
Verified that the README contains the changes.