protobuf/java

Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
Copyright 2008 Google Inc.

This directory contains the Java Protocol Buffers runtime library.

Installation - With Maven
=========================

The Protocol Buffers build is managed using Maven. If you would
rather build without Maven, see below.

1) Install Apache Maven if you don't have it:

http://maven.apache.org/

2) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc. If
you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
version as this package. If in doubt, run:

$ protoc --version

You will need to place the protoc executable in ../src. (If you
built it yourself, it should already be there.)

3) Run the tests:

$ mvn test

If some tests fail, this library may not work correctly on your
system. Continue at your own risk.

4) Install the library into your Maven repository:

$ mvn install

5) If you do not use Maven to manage your own build, you can build a
.jar file to use:

$ mvn package

The .jar will be placed in the "target" directory.

Installation - 'Lite' Version - With Maven
==========================================

Building the 'lite' version of the Java Protocol Buffers library is
the same as building the full version, except that all commands are
run using the 'lite' profile. (see
http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html)

E.g. to install the lite version of the jar, you would run:

$ mvn install -P lite

The resulting artifact has the 'lite' classifier. To reference it
for dependency resolution, you would specify it as:


com.google.protobuf
protobuf-java
${version}
lite


Installation - Without Maven
============================

If you would rather not install Maven to build the library, you may
follow these instructions instead. Note that these instructions skip
running unit tests.

1) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc. If
you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
version as this package. If in doubt, run:

$ protoc --version

If you built the C++ code without installing, the compiler binary
should be located in ../src.

2) Invoke protoc to build DescriptorProtos.java:

$ protoc --java_out=src/main/java -I../src \
../src/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto

3) Compile the code in src/main/java using whatever means you prefer.

4) Install the classes wherever you prefer.

Usage
=====

The complete documentation for Protocol Buffers is available via the
web at:

https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/