I see where your comming from, and your suggestion is valid for standard archieving needs. My problem is that I also use the WAR task which extends the Jar task. This means all my WAR files have META-INF/MANIFEST.MF. The servlet specification 2_2 implys that the META-INF directory is also optional for WAR files.
Web Application Archive File Web applications can be packaged and signed, using the standard Java Archive tools, into a Web ARchive format (war) file. For example, an application for issue tracking could be distributed in an archive with the filename issuetrack.war. When packaged into such a form, a META-INF directory will be present which contains information useful to the Java Archive tools. If this directory is present, the servlet container must not allow it be served as content to a web client's request. (Granted 2_3 maintains that a META-INF directory will be present in WAR files but not necessarily WEBAPPS) By patching the jar task the new functionality will be inherited by the WAR task. I guess I would like the option to not include META-INF directories in my WAR files as well as my JAR files, which seems fair to me. Hussein ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Skeet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 11:25 AM Subject: RE: JAR task always creates a META-INF/manifest.mf is this necessary? > Hello, If I am not mistaken the current JAR task always creates a > META-INF/MANIFEST.MF > is there a specific reason for this? The specification says the > META-INF/* is optional Is there any difference between a jar file which doesn't have a manifest and a plain zip file? If not, I would suggest that people wanting to create a jar file which doesn't have a manifest should just use the zip task with a jar filename. Jon
