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:

  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
    <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
    <version>${version}</version>
    <classifier>lite</classifier>
  </dependency>

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/