New To Java Libraries - What To Include In A Jar File

I have an Android project which included a class with a file copy method. Out of interest I thought I'd extract this into a (non-android, just plain java) project of its own, as it

Solution 1:

You can include things that are needed at runtime.

For example:

• The .class files contain the compiled code; this is needed at runtime.
• You may also need to include other resources, such as images.
• Sometimes you may find it handy to include a custom META-INF/MANIFEST.MF.
• Sometimes it's useful to include a dynamically linked, native library (e.g., a Windows DLL), but to use it you'll usually need to extract it first to a temporary location.
• Sometimes additional resources are zipped into a jar, such as API documentation for a library.

The .project and .classpath files are not used at runtime. They do not need to be included in the jar file.