Java: How can I compile an entire directory struct

Question

The use case is simple. I got the source files that were created using Eclipse. So, there is a deep directory structure, where any Java class could be referring to another Java class in the same, child, sibling or parent folder.

How do I compile this whole thing from the terminal using javac ?

Answer 1

You'd have to use something like Ant to do this hierarchically:

http://ant.apache.org/manual/Tasks/javac.html

You'll need to create a build script with a target called compile containing the following:

<javac sourcepath="" srcdir="${src}"
         destdir="${build}" >
    <include name="**/*.java"/>
</javac>

Then you''ll be able to compile all files by running:

 ant compile

Alternatively, import your project into Eclipse and it will automatically compile all the source files for that project.

Answer 2

Windows solution: Assuming all files contained in sub-directory 'src', and you want to compile them to 'bin'.

for /r src %i in (*.java) do javac %i -sourcepath src -d bin

If src contains a .java file immediately below it then this is faster

javac src\\*.java -d bin

Answer 3

With Bash 4, you can just enable globstar

shopt -s globstar

and then do

javac **/*.java

Answer 4

There is a way to do this without using a pipe character, which is convenient if you are forking a process from another programming language to do this:

find $JAVA_SRC_DIR -name '*.java' -exec javac -d $OUTPUT_DIR {} +

Though if you are in Bash and/or don't mind using a pipe, then you can do:

find $JAVA_SRC_DIR -name '*.java' | xargs javac -d $OUTPUT_DIR

Answer 5

Following is the method I found:

1) Make a list of files with relative paths in a file (say FilesList.txt) as follows (either space separated or line separated):

foo/AccessTestInterface.java
foo/goo/AccessTestInterfaceImpl.java

2) Use the command:

javac @FilesList.txt -d classes

This will compile all the files and put the class files inside classes directory.

Now easy way to create FilesList.txt is this: Go to your source root directory.

dir *.java /s /b > FilesList.txt

But, this will populate absolute path. Using a text editor "Replace All" the path up to source directory (include \ in the end) with "" (i.e. empty string) and Save.

Answer 6

If all you want to do is run your main class (without compiling the .java files on which the main class doesn't depend), then you can do the following:

cd <root-package-directory>
javac <complete-path-to-main-class>

or

javac -cp <root-package-directory> <complete-path-to-main-class>

javac would automatically resolve all the dependencies and compile all the dependencies as well.