Gradle

JavaPackager supports Gradle 7 and newer, including Gradle 9. To bundle a customized JRE, build with a JDK 9 or newer.

Apply the plugin

Apply the plugin in build.gradle:

plugins {
    id 'io.github.javapackager' version '2.0.0'
}

No extra repositories are needed: the plugin is published on Maven Central, and Gradle finds it through the Gradle Plugin Portal, its default plugin repository. Check the latest version on Maven Central or in the releases.

The plugin applies the java plugin, and adds a package task and a javapackager extension to configure it.

Configure and package your app

Configure the app in the javapackager extension:

javapackager {
    mainClass = 'com.example.Main'
}

mainClass is the only mandatory property. Then run:

gradle package

The package task runs after build. The app and its installers are generated in build/. See generated artifacts for what you get, and which tools each installer needs.

With Gradle, bundleJre is true by default: a customized JRE with only the modules your app needs is bundled with it, so users don't need Java installed. Set bundleJre = false to leave it out.

note

The Maven plugin doesn't bundle a JRE by default (bundleJre is false there).

A fuller example

javapackager {
    // mandatory
    mainClass = 'com.example.Main'
    // optional
    name = 'MyApp'
    displayName = 'My App'
    bundleJre = true
    generateInstaller = true
    administratorRequired = false
    platform = 'auto'
    vmArgs = [ '-Xmx512m' ]
    additionalResources = [ file('README.md'), file('config') ]
    linuxConfig {
        ...
    }
    macConfig {
        ...
    }
    winConfig {
        ...
    }
}

Every property is described in the configuration reference, and the platform-specific ones in GNU/Linux, macOS and Windows.

Your own tasks

To package the app more than once (several platforms, with and without JRE...), register your own tasks of type PackageTask. They take every property from the javapackager extension, and the ones you set in the task override them:

tasks.register('packageForWindows', io.github.javapackager.gradle.PackageTask) {
    dependsOn build
    platform = 'windows'
    createZipball = true
}

note

In a task, the app's name property is appName, because name is the task's own name.

See several executions and platforms and the Gradle samples.

Properties taken from your project

Property	Taken from
name	the project name
version	the project version
description	the project description, as it is when the plugin is applied (set description in javapackager if you set the project's later)
licenseFile	a LICENSE file in the root project folder
jreMinVersion	the Java targetCompatibility (for Launch4j on Windows)
packagingJdk	the Java toolchain, if the project defines one

mainClass is not taken from the application plugin: set it in javapackager.