# Java {#sec-language-java}

Ant-based Java packages are typically built from source as follows:

```nix
stdenv.mkDerivation {
  pname = "...";
  version = "...";

  src = fetchurl { /* ... */ };

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    ant
    jdk
    stripJavaArchivesHook # removes timestamp metadata from jar files
  ];

  buildPhase = ''
    runHook preBuild
    ant # build the project using ant
    runHook postBuild
  '';

  installPhase = ''
    runHook preInstall

    # copy generated jar file(s) to an appropriate location in $out
    install -Dm644 build/foo.jar $out/share/java/foo.jar

    runHook postInstall
  '';
}
```

Note that `jdk` is an alias for the OpenJDK (self-built where available,
or pre-built via Zulu).

Also note that not using `stripJavaArchivesHook` will likely cause the
generated `.jar` files to be non-deterministic, which is not optimal.
Using it, however, does not always guarantee reproducibility.

JAR files that are intended to be used by other packages should be
installed in `$out/share/java`. JDKs have a stdenv setup hook that add
any JARs in the `share/java` directories of the build inputs to the
`CLASSPATH` environment variable. For instance, if the package `libfoo`
installs a JAR named `foo.jar` in its `share/java` directory, and
another package declares the attribute

```nix
{
  buildInputs = [ libfoo ];
  nativeBuildInputs = [ jdk ];
}
```

then `CLASSPATH` will be set to
`/nix/store/...-libfoo/share/java/foo.jar`.

Private JARs should be installed in a location like
`$out/share/package-name`.

If your Java package provides a program, you need to generate a wrapper
script to run it using a JRE. You can use `makeWrapper` for this:

```nix
{
  nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];

  installPhase = ''
    mkdir -p $out/bin
    makeWrapper ${jre}/bin/java $out/bin/foo \
      --add-flags "-cp $out/share/java/foo.jar org.foo.Main"
  '';
}
```

Since the introduction of the Java Platform Module System in Java 9,
Java distributions typically no longer ship with a general-purpose JRE:
instead, they allow generating a JRE with only the modules required for
your application(s). Because we can't predict what modules will be
needed on a general-purpose system, the default jre package is the full
JDK. When building a minimal system/image, you can override the
`modules` parameter on `jre_minimal` to build a JRE with only the
modules relevant for you:

```nix
let
  my_jre = pkgs.jre_minimal.override {
    modules = [
      # The modules used by 'something' and 'other' combined:
      "java.base"
      "java.logging"
    ];
  };
  something = (pkgs.something.override { jre = my_jre; });
  other = (pkgs.other.override { jre = my_jre; });
in
  <...>
```

You can also specify what JDK your JRE should be based on, for example
selecting a 'headless' build to avoid including a link to GTK+:

```nix
{
  my_jre = pkgs.jre_minimal.override {
    jdk = jdk11_headless;
  };
}
```

Note all JDKs passthru `home`, so if your application requires
environment variables like `JAVA_HOME` being set, that can be done in a
generic fashion with the `--set` argument of `makeWrapper`:

```bash
--set JAVA_HOME ${jdk.home}
```

It is possible to use a different Java compiler than `javac` from the
OpenJDK. For instance, to use the GNU Java Compiler:

```nix
{
  nativeBuildInputs = [ gcj ant ];
}
```

Here, Ant will automatically use `gij` (the GNU Java Runtime) instead of
the OpenJRE.