Hei, I found that it is impossible to dynamically attach to a JVM that does not include the java.instrument module when built with jlink. This is a result of the instrumentation API and its infrastructure missing from the image.
rafael@rafc:~/jdk9-test/greetingsapp$ ./bin/java -javaagent:/home/rafael/.m2/repository/sample-agent/sample-agent/1.0-SNAPSHOT/sample-agent-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar -m com.greetings/com.greetings.Main Error occurred during initialization of VM Could not find agent library instrument on the library path, with error: libinstrument.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory It is of course neither possible to attach an agent to the JVM on the command line. This problem resolves when explicitly including the java.instrumentation module what does however render an unused warning in most IDEs. I understand that one target of the jlink tool is to reduce the JVM's size. For the example greetings app, the size different is however minimal: rafael@rafc:~/jdk9-test$ du -sh greetingsapp-instrument 45M greetingsapp-instrument rafael@rafc:~/jdk9-test$ du -sh greetingsapp 44M greetingsapp I would therefore suggest to always include the instrumentation module when building with jlink.I would find it rather confusing to end users not being able to attach an agent more or less all existing tooling demands this ability, especially since users of Java applications are not always responsible for building applications. At a minimum, I would suggest a better error message and the rejection of the javaagent parameter on the bundled command java executable. However, I strongly suggest to not go for this solution as the instrumentation module is unlikely to be included by any main application what would result in such images never being compatible with agents, this breaking compatibility of jlink built images to basically any Java tooling including that provided by Oracle. Best regards, Rafael
