Java Jar File Naming Conventions and Examples.

util.jar is the worst jar file name I can think of. All I know is it contains some utility/helper classes. But it is unclear if they belong to an application server, or a framework, or any application sub-systems. You will need to ask someone or some docs to know what it is. It's part of the DataDirect JDBC Driver distribution.

On the other hand, good jar file names are always self-explanatory, for example: struts.jar, jboss-system.jar, commons-pool-1.1.jar

Some thoughts on jar file naming conventions:

1. Always use extension ".jar", not ".zip"
   Theoretically, jar files can have any extension or no extension at all. If you specify it in the system classpath, it should be loadable. The problem is with automatic library detection and loading by containers and frameworks. It's expensive to scan all files so some sort of extension restriction is needed. For this reason, J2EE/JavaEE platform spec requires all library jar files use ".jar" extension, such as WEB-INF/lib/mybeans.jar.
   


2. Use hyphen (-) instead of underscore (_) as word separator
   First, it's easier to type - than _; secondly, when the file name is underlined (e.g., in a hyperlink), the _ is invisible. Hyphen has been shunned in file names partly because it is an illegal character in java identifier. But this concern is unwarranted.
   


3. Append version number if distributed standalone
   because they can be dropped into any applications, which may need specific versions. We don't want users to have to compare file size or extract some META-INF files to know its version. Some examples: hibernate3.jar, commons-logging-1.0.3.jar, and
log4j-1.2.8.jar.
   
   
4. Don't append version number if bundled inside other larger deliverables
   because the enclosing deliverables, such as an application server (e.g., JBoss 4.0.4, jakarta-tomcat-5), a tool(e.g., apache-ant-1.6.5), aleady have the version numbers, thus no version number for jboss.jar, catalina.jar, and ant.jar.
   

Tags: Java, Jar