There is an introductory blog post at http://skife.org/java/unix/2011/06/20/really_executable_jars.html
To use it, add a plugin to your pom like:
<!-- You need to build an exectuable uberjar, I like Shade for that -->
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.4.1</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>shade</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<transformers>
<transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
<!-- note that the main class is set *here* -->
<mainClass>com.example.Main</mainClass>
</transformer>
</transformers>
<createDependencyReducedPom>false</createDependencyReducedPom>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<!-- now make the jar chmod +x style executable -->
<plugin>
<groupId>org.skife.maven</groupId>
<artifactId>really-executable-jar-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1.0</version>
<configuration>
<!-- value of flags will be interpolated into the java invocation -->
<!-- as "java $flags -jar ..." -->
<flags>-Xmx1G</flags>
<!-- (optional) name for binary executable, if not set will just -->
<!-- make the regular jar artifact executable -->
<programFile>nifty-executable</programFile>
<!-- (optional) support other packaging formats than jar -->
<!-- <allowOtherTypes>true</allowOtherTypes> -->
<!-- (optional) name for a file that will define what script gets -->
<!-- embedded into the executable jar. This can be used to -->
<!-- override the default startup script which is -->
<!-- `#!/bin/sh -->
<!-- -->
<!-- exec java " + flags + " -jar "$0" "$@" -->
<!-- <scriptFile>src/packaging/someScript.extension</scriptFile> -->
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>really-executable-jar</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>Changes:
2.1.0 - use zip-prefixer instead of rebuilding JAR
- improve handling of multi-artifact builds
- add inputFile parameter to select any file
- add basic integration testing
- require JDK 11+ to build (plugin still targets JDK 8)
2.0.0 - support ZIP64 format
- require Java 8, drop support for JDK7
- support packaging other file formats than jars
1.4.0 - require Java 7, change code to use JDK7 APIs
- Support Windows
- Don't suppress errors
1.3.0 - add helpmojo
- allow attachment of executable instead of unconditional replacement
- make extension configurable
- allow script replacement in the resulting executable
1.2.0 - never released
1.1.0 - If programFile is set, do not make the base artifact (the
.jar) executable, just the programFile one.
1.0.0 - Stable