META-INF/MANIFEST.MF - JAR Manifest File

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This section describes the JAR manifest file, META-INF/MANIFEST.MF, which contains about the JAR file and its contents.

"manifest" in a JAR file is a file named as META-INF/MANIFEST.MF. It contains attributes about the JAR file and its contents.

Attributes in "manifest" are recorded as a list of name-value pairs in the form of "name: value\n". The list is divided into a main section for package-level attributes and multiple sub sections for entry-level attributes. Note that each attribute must be ended with a new line character.

The main section may contain only the package level attributes like:

• Manifest-Version
• Created-By
• Main-Class
• Class-Path
• Implementation-Vendor
• Implementation-URL

Sub sections are optional. They are used to provide entry-level attributes with one section per entry. A sub sections must be preceded with a blank line and started with a "Name" attribute to associate this section with a content entry in the JAR file. Example of entry-level attributes are:

• Content-Type
• Java-Bean

Sections in This Chapter

JAR - Java Archive File Format

'jar' - JAR File Tool Command and Options

Creating the First JAR File - hello.jar

Managing JAR Files with WinZIP

META-INF/MANIFEST.MF - JAR Manifest File

Adding META-INF/MANIFEST.MF to JAR Files

Using JAR Files in Java Class Paths

Creating Executable JAR Files