How to load JAR files dynamically at Runtime?

Question

Why is it so hard to do this in Java? If you want to have any kind of module system you need to be able to load JAR files dynamically. I\'m told there\'s a way of doing it b

Answer 1

If you are working on Android, the following code works:

String jarFile = "path/to/jarfile.jar";
DexClassLoader classLoader = new DexClassLoader(jarFile, "/data/data/" + context.getPackageName() + "/", null, getClass().getClassLoader());
Class<?> myClass = classLoader.loadClass("MyClass");

Answer 2

The best I've found is org.apache.xbean.classloader.JarFileClassLoader which is part of the XBean project.

Here's a short method I've used in the past, to create a class loader from all the lib files in a specific directory

public void initialize(String libDir) throws Exception {
    File dependencyDirectory = new File(libDir);
    File[] files = dependencyDirectory.listFiles();
    ArrayList<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>();
    for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
        if (files[i].getName().endsWith(".jar")) {
        urls.add(files[i].toURL());
        //urls.add(files[i].toURI().toURL());
        }
    }
    classLoader = new JarFileClassLoader("Scheduler CL" + System.currentTimeMillis(), 
        urls.toArray(new URL[urls.size()]), 
        GFClassLoader.class.getClassLoader());
}

Then to use the classloader, just do:

classLoader.loadClass(name);

Answer 3

Here is a quick workaround for Allain's method to make it compatible with newer versions of Java:

ClassLoader classLoader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
try {
    Method method = classLoader.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("addURL", URL.class);
    method.setAccessible(true);
    method.invoke(classLoader, new File(jarPath).toURI().toURL());
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
    Method method = classLoader.getClass()
            .getDeclaredMethod("appendToClassPathForInstrumentation", String.class);
    method.setAccessible(true);
    method.invoke(classLoader, jarPath);
}

Note that it relies on knowledge of internal implementation of specific JVM, so it's not ideal and it's not a universal solution. But it's a quick and easy workaround if you know that you are going to use standard OpenJDK or Oracle JVM. It might also break at some point in future when new JVM version is released, so you need to keep that in mind.

Answer 4

Another working solution using Instrumentation that works for me. It has the advantage of modifying the class loader search, avoiding problems on class visibility for dependent classes:

Create an Agent Class

For this example, it has to be on the same jar invoked by the command line:

package agent;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;

public class Agent {
   public static Instrumentation instrumentation;

   public static void premain(String args, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
      Agent.instrumentation = instrumentation;
   }

   public static void agentmain(String args, Instrumentation instrumentation) {
      Agent.instrumentation = instrumentation;
   }

   public static void appendJarFile(JarFile file) throws IOException {
      if (instrumentation != null) {
         instrumentation.appendToSystemClassLoaderSearch(file);
      }
   }
}

Modify the MANIFEST.MF

Adding the reference to the agent:

Launcher-Agent-Class: agent.Agent
Agent-Class: agent.Agent
Premain-Class: agent.Agent

I actually use Netbeans, so this post helps on how to change the manifest.mf

Running

The Launcher-Agent-Class is only supported on JDK 9+ and is responsible for loading the agent without explicitly defining it on the command line:

 java -jar <your jar>

The way that works on JDK 6+ is defining the -javaagent argument:

java -javaagent:<your jar> -jar <your jar>

Adding new Jar at Runtime

You can then add jar as necessary using the following command:

Agent.appendJarFile(new JarFile(<your file>));

I did not find any problems using this on documentation.

Answer 5

I know I'm late to the party, but I have been using pf4j, which is a plug-in framework, and it works pretty well.

Answer 6

Here is a version that is not deprecated. I modified the original to remove the deprecated functionality.

/**************************************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2004, Federal University of So Carlos                                           *
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/*
 * Created on Oct 6, 2004
 */
package tools;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;

/**
 * Useful class for dynamically changing the classpath, adding classes during runtime. 
 */
public class ClasspathHacker {
    /**
     * Parameters of the method to add an URL to the System classes. 
     */
    private static final Class<?>[] parameters = new Class[]{URL.class};

    /**
     * Adds a file to the classpath.
     * @param s a String pointing to the file
     * @throws IOException
     */
    public static void addFile(String s) throws IOException {
        File f = new File(s);
        addFile(f);
    }

    /**
     * Adds a file to the classpath
     * @param f the file to be added
     * @throws IOException
     */
    public static void addFile(File f) throws IOException {
        addURL(f.toURI().toURL());
    }

    /**
     * Adds the content pointed by the URL to the classpath.
     * @param u the URL pointing to the content to be added
     * @throws IOException
     */
    public static void addURL(URL u) throws IOException {
        URLClassLoader sysloader = (URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
        Class<?> sysclass = URLClassLoader.class;
        try {
            Method method = sysclass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL",parameters);
            method.setAccessible(true);
            method.invoke(sysloader,new Object[]{ u }); 
        } catch (Throwable t) {
            t.printStackTrace();
            throw new IOException("Error, could not add URL to system classloader");
        }        
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException, SecurityException, ClassNotFoundException, IllegalArgumentException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, InvocationTargetException, NoSuchMethodException{
        addFile("C:\\dynamicloading.jar");
        Constructor<?> cs = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().loadClass("test.DymamicLoadingTest").getConstructor(String.class);
        DymamicLoadingTest instance = (DymamicLoadingTest)cs.newInstance();
        instance.test();
    }
}