README.txt
1Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
2Copyright 2008 Google Inc.
3
4This directory contains the Java Protocol Buffers runtime library.
5
6Installation - With Maven
7=========================
8
9The Protocol Buffers build is managed using Maven. If you would
10rather build without Maven, see below.
11
121) Install Apache Maven if you don't have it:
13
14 http://maven.apache.org/
15
162) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc. If
17 you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
18 version as this package. If in doubt, run:
19
20 $ protoc --version
21
22 You will need to place the protoc executable in ../src. (If you
23 built it yourself, it should already be there.)
24
253) Run the tests:
26
27 $ mvn test
28
29 If some tests fail, this library may not work correctly on your
30 system. Continue at your own risk.
31
324) Install the library into your Maven repository:
33
34 $ mvn install
35
365) If you do not use Maven to manage your own build, you can build a
37 .jar file to use:
38
39 $ mvn package
40
41 The .jar will be placed in the "target" directory.
42
43Installation - 'Lite' Version - With Maven
44==========================================
45
46Building the 'lite' version of the Java Protocol Buffers library is
47the same as building the full version, except that all commands are
48run using the 'lite' profile. (see
49http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html)
50
51E.g. to install the lite version of the jar, you would run:
52
53 $ mvn install -P lite
54
55The resulting artifact has the 'lite' classifier. To reference it
56for dependency resolution, you would specify it as:
57
58 <dependency>
59 <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
60 <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
61 <version>${version}</version>
62 <classifier>lite</classifier>
63 </dependency>
64
65Installation - Without Maven
66============================
67
68If you would rather not install Maven to build the library, you may
69follow these instructions instead. Note that these instructions skip
70running unit tests.
71
721) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc. If
73 you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
74 version as this package. If in doubt, run:
75
76 $ protoc --version
77
78 If you built the C++ code without installing, the compiler binary
79 should be located in ../src.
80
812) Invoke protoc to build DescriptorProtos.java:
82
83 $ protoc --java_out=src/main/java -I../src \
84 ../src/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
85
863) Compile the code in src/main/java using whatever means you prefer.
87
884) Install the classes wherever you prefer.
89
90Usage
91=====
92
93The complete documentation for Protocol Buffers is available via the
94web at:
95
96 http://code.google.com/apis/protocolbuffers/
97