Build Eclipse Java Project from Command Line

Keith_G_5208 0
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Is there a way to compile an Eclipse-based Java project from the command line?

I'm trying to automate my build (using FinalBuilder not ant), and I'm neither a Java nor Eclipse expert. I can probably figure out how to do this with straight java command line options, but then the Eclipse project feels like a lot of wasted effort.

In the event that there is no way to compile an Eclipse project via the command line, is there a way to generate the required java command line from within Eclipse? Or are there some files I can poke around to find the compile steps it is doing behind the scenes?

Guys, I'm looking for an answer that does NOT include ant. Let me re-iterate the original question ....... Is there a way to build an Eclipse project from the command line?

I don't think this is an unreasonable question given that I can do something like this for visual studio:

devenv.exe /build "Debug|Any CPU" "C:\Projects\MyProject\source\MyProject.sln"
eclipse command-line java
9 Answers

To complete André's answer, an ant solution could be like the one described in Emacs, JDEE, Ant, and the Eclipse Java Compiler, as in:

      <javac
          srcdir="${src}"
          destdir="${build.dir}/classes"> 
        <compilerarg 
           compiler="org.eclipse.jdt.core.JDTCompilerAdapter" 
           line="-warn:+unused -Xemacs"/>
        <classpath refid="compile.classpath" />
      </javac>

The compilerarg element also allows you to pass in additional command line args to the eclipse compiler.

You can find a full ant script example here which would be invoked in a command line with:

java -cp C:/eclipse-SDK-3.4-win32/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.100.v20080509-1800.jar org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main -data "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\workspace" -application org.eclipse.ant.core.antRunner -buildfile build.xml -verbose

BUT all that involves ant, which is not what Keith is after.

For a batch compilation, please refer to Compiling Java code, especially the section "Using the batch compiler"

The batch compiler class is located in the JDT Core plug-in. The name of the class is org.eclipse.jdt.compiler.batch.BatchCompiler. It is packaged into plugins/org.eclipse.jdt.core_3.4.0..jar. Since 3.2, it is also available as a separate download. The name of the file is ecj.jar.
Since 3.3, this jar also contains the support for jsr199 (Compiler API) and the support for jsr269 (Annotation processing). In order to use the annotations processing support, a 1.6 VM is required.

Running the batch compiler From the command line would give

java -jar org.eclipse.jdt.core_3.4.0<qualifier>.jar -classpath rt.jar A.java

or:

java -jar ecj.jar -classpath rt.jar A.java

All java compilation options are detailed in that section as well.

The difference with the Visual Studio command line compilation feature is that Eclipse does not seem to directly read its .project and .classpath in a command-line argument. You have to report all information contained in the .project and .classpath in various command-line options in order to achieve the very same compilation result.

So, then short answer is: "yes, Eclipse kind of does." ;)

VonC_63090

The normal apporoach works the other way around: You create your build based upon maven or ant and then use integrations for your IDE of choice so that you are independent from it, which is esp. important when you try to bring new team members up to speed or use a contious integration server for automated builds. I recommend to use maven and let it do the heavy lifting for you. Create a pom file and generate the eclipse project via mvn eclipse:eclipse. HTH

Andr233_96830

This question contains some useful links on headless builds, but they are mostly geared towards building plugins. I'm not sure how much of it can be applied to pure Java projects.

user_130510

I wanted to just add this comment to this question for anyone who may encounter this issue in the future.

Once, I was working on a project and building complex and inter-related JAVA projects from CMD (using ECLIPSE) was my only option. So, all you need to is this:

  • Download your desired ECLIPSE IDE (tested it with ECLIPSE OXYGEN, Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers and Eclipse IDE for Java Developers and it works fine)

  • Open your project in the ECLIPSE and change the ECLIPSE configuration based on your project

  • Close the ECLIPSE and save the .metadata created from your ECLIPSE (If your workspace is going to be refreshed in the future)

  • Run this script in the CMD:

"%ECLIPSE_IDE%\eclipsec.exe" -noSplash -data "YOUR_WORKSPACE" -application org.eclipse.jdt.apt.core.aptBuild

So, all I wanted to say is that, I could not build using the above commands without the .metadata being in the workspace. Make sure it exists there. If you need, make a copy of .metadata and copy-paste it each time your want to execute the commands.

user_192311070

Hi Just addition to VonC comments. I am using ecj compiler to compile my project. it was throwing expcetion that some of the classes are not found. But the project was bulding fine with javac compiler.

So just I added the classes into the classpath(which we have to pass as argument) and now its working fine... :)

Kulbir Singh

Admin1

Short answer. No. Eclipse does not have a command line switch like Visual Studio to build a project.

user_143160
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