Java Jar Commands

Creating the File structure
# simple suggested structure
project_directory/
\
_ bin/ # binary files
\_ byte_file.class # compiled java bytecode
_src/ # source files (optional)
_META-INF/ # standard location for manifest file
\_MANIFEST.MF # manifest file containing jar variables

Editing the MANIFEST.MF
The manifest can contain variables such as the following:
Main-Class: class_name # name of a class with a "main" method that will run when jar is run.
Class-path: path/to/classes/in/package/ # path start at root of package

Create the Jar
jar -cvfm jar_name.jar path/to/manifest.mf dir/to/class/files/
jar -cvfm project.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF bin/
-c # compress into a jar
-v # verbose output
-f # compress to a file specified on the command line (versus to stdout)
-m # specify a path to a manifest file.

Execute the Jar
java -jar jar_name.jar

Extract a Jar file
jar -xvf jar_name.jar