JH_BUILD(1)

👑 jh_build — the Javahelper girlies' build tool 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to jh_build(1), part of the Javahelper family ✨. If you've ever stared at a Java source tree with no upstream build system (or one that's giving absolutely nothing useful 🙈), this is your girl. She compiles java sources when there's no (useful) upstream build system to do it for you. periodt.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

jh_build [debhelper options]

jh_build [debhelper options] jarfile source [... source]

like yes, two whole moods. one with just debhelper options, one where you hand her a jarfile and some sources 🫶

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

nothing here, bestie. the DESCRIPTION section is literally empty. the manpage said "no thoughts, head empty." iconic of her honestly 🎀

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• debian/javabuild — okay so this is the whole itinerary 📋. it's a file listing each build to perform. one build per line, and every line looks like this:

jarfile source [... source]

where jarfile is the name of the jar file to be built 🫙 and source is a source file or a directory containing source files 🌈 so each line is basically "build this jar, from these things". no cap.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --main=main-class — sets the Main-Class attribute in the manifest of the jar file(s) she generates, to main-class. the result? java -jar generated-jar-file runs that class. main character energy fr fr 👑
• --java-home=home — use home as JAVA_HOME. and yes, this lowkey overrides the JAVA_HOME environment variable 💖 she said "my rules now".
• -J, --javadoc, --no-javadoc — whether or not to build javadoc for the jar files 🧚 by default she does generate javadoc along with the jar files. so --no-javadoc is the "actually, not today" option 🍓
• --javacopts=options — passes options to javac when she's invoking javac 🔥 the options value is a space-separate list of options, and bestie please remember to quote the argument so the shell doesn't go interpreting your value 😭🙈
• --javadoc-opts=options — same deal but for javadoc, when she's invoking javadoc 💜 the options value is a space-separate list of options — again, quote the argument so the shell stays out of it, ngl.
• --clean — if you pass this, jh_build will clean up after itself 🧹✨. it's what jh_clean(1) calls, and honestly, using jh_clean(1) is recommended over calling jh_build with --clean directly. so like, yes she can do it herself, but let the dedicated girl handle it, iykyk 💅

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• JAVA_HOME — if it's set (and --java-home is omitted), it determines the location of the java home for finding the javac(1) compiler, the javadoc(1) compiler, and the jar(1) utility 🛠️
  • if the environment variable is unset and --java-home is omitted, then the default java home is /usr/lib/jvm/default-java ⭐
• CLASSPATH — if set, this is the classpath used during compilation of the source code 🦋
• JH_JAR_EXTRA — a space separated list of extra files or directories to include in the generated jar file(s) 🎁
  • can be omitted if no extra files need to be included 💖

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🍓 EXAMPLE 🍓

jh_build foo.jar src/java/main

this will generate foo.jar from compiling all the java files in src/java/main and generate a javadoc from it. slay!! 🔥

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• debhelper(7)

this program is a part of javahelper and uses debhelper as backend 🫶 there are also tutorials in /usr/share/doc/javahelper if you want the whole reading list 📚

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and that's the tea, bestie ☕ this was jh_build(1) from Javahelper, version 0.82, dated 2026-05-17 🎀 go compile something gorgeous. mwah 💋✨