In Maven how to exclude resources from the generated jar?

When I create an executable jar with dependencies (using this guide), all properties files are packaged into that jar too. How to stop it from happening? Thanks.

UPDATE: I tried to exclude them using the Maven resources plugin, but then my application won't find the properties files when I run it in Eclipse (right click on the module -> Run As -> Java Application)

UPDATE: Thanks for your useful answers. I think I'd better spend time to learn Maven, for now I just choose the simplest solution.

To exclude any file from a jar / target directory you can use the <excludes> tag in your pom.xml file.

In the next example, all files with .properties extension will not be included:

<build>
    <resources>
        <resource>
            <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
            <excludes>
                <exclude>*.properties</exclude>
            </excludes>
            <filtering>false</filtering>
        </resource>
    </resources>
</build>

By convention, the directory src/main/resources contains the resources that will be used by the application. So Maven will include them in the final JAR.

Thus in your application, you will access them using the getResourceAsStream() method, as the resources are loaded in the classpath.

If you need to have them outside your application, do not store them in src/main/resources as they will be bundled by Maven. Of course, you can exclude them (using the link given by chkal) but it is better to create another directory (for example src/main/external-resources) in order to keep the conventions regarding the src/main/resources directory.

In the latter case, you will have to deliver the resources independently as your JAR file (this can be achieved by using the Assembly plugin). If you need to access them in your Eclipse environment, go to the Properties of your project, then in Java Build Path in Sources tab, add the folder (for example src/main/external-resources). Eclipse will then add this directory in the classpath.

This calls exactly for the using the Maven JAR Plugin

For example, if you want to exclude everything under src/test/resources/ from the final jar, put this:

<build>

		<plugins>
			<!-- configure JAR build -->
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
				<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>2.3.1</version>
				<configuration>
					<excludes>
						<exclude>src/test/resources/**</exclude>
					</excludes>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>

...

Files under src/test/resources/ will still be available on class-path, they just won't be in resulting JAR.

Put those properties files in src/test/resources. Files in src/test/resources are available within Eclipse automatically via eclipse:eclipse but will not be included in the packaged JAR by Maven.

Exclude specific pattern of file during creation of maven jar using maven-jar-plugin.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>2.3</version>
  <configuration>
    <excludes>
      <exclude>**/*.properties</exclude>
      <exclude>**/*.xml</exclude>
      <exclude>**/*.exe</exclude>
      <exclude>**/*.java</exclude>
      <exclude>**/*.xls</exclude>
    </excludes>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

Do you mean to property files located in src/main/resources? Then you should exclude them using the maven-resource-plugin. See the following page for details:

http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-resources-plugin/examples/include-exclude.html

Another possibility is to use the Maven Shade Plugin, e.g. to exclude a logging properties file used only locally in your IDE:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${maven-shade-plugin-version}</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>shade</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <filters>
                    <filter>
                        <artifact>*:*</artifact>
                        <excludes>
                            <exclude>log4j2.xml</exclude>
                        </excludes>
                    </filter>
                </filters>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

This will however exclude the files from every artifact, so it might not be feasible in every situation.

> When I create an executable jar with dependencies (using this guide), all properties files are packaged into that jar too. How to stop it from happening? Thanks.

Properties files from where? Your main jar? Dependencies?

In the former case, putting resources under src/test/resources as suggested is probably the most straight forward and simplest option.

In the later case, you'll have to create a custom assembly descriptor with special excludes/exclude in the unpackOptions.