JGit PGM, part of the Eclipse JGit project, is the stand-alone command-line Java program which provides Git commands similar to the native git commands, to access Git repositories.
Usually distributed as a jar package, JGit PGM
is also distributed as a stand-alone, self-contained (with all dependencies), executable shell archive,
from Maven Central, like
this
of the 6.7.0 version. This shell archive is then normally renamed to jgit locally for ease of typing.
On Linux, the shell archive can be run directly.
On Windows, the shell archive can be run with the java command, like:
java -jar org.eclipse.jgit.pgm-6.7.0.202309050840-r.sh --version
This project aims to produce platform-specific, native executable jgit of the JGit PGM
using the GraalVM native-image utility,
complementing the shell archive distribution.
Gradle and Maven build scripts are provided for building the project. The latest JGit version used here is 7.2.0.
The GraalVM native-image page shows how to set up GraalVM and its native-image utility for common platforms. Gluon also provides some setup details for GraalVM native-image creation.
Actually, because this PGM application can produce a graphical window showing the commit logs,
via the command jgit glog, e.g.:
and thus for a Swing-based application like this PGM project, an implementation of GraalVM called the Liberica Native Image Kit can produce a working native executable better than the stock GraalVM-CE software could, for some reason. This Liberica NIK software is used in the GitHub Actions build scripts of this project to successfully build and generate the relevant working native images for Linux and Windows.
The GraalVM native-image utility will use the configuration files in
src/graal-cfg/<platform>/META-INF/native-image folder to assist in the native image generation.
To run the JGit PGM in standard JVM with Gradle, execute the run task
with relevant parameters as needed:
gradlew run --args="--version"
gradlew run --args="ls-remote <some-repo-url>"
gradlew run --args="clone <some-repo-url>"
gradlew run --args="glog"
etc.
To produce a native executable, execute the nativeCompile task:
gradlew nativeCompile
The nativeCompile task would take a while to compile the application and link into an executable file.
The resulting jgit executable file is:
build/native/nativeCompile/jgit
(or if building on a Windows machine, the executable file is:
build\native\nativeCompile\jgit.exe
)
which can then be run directly (with relevant parameters):
./build/native/nativeCompile/jgit --version
./build/native/nativeCompile/jgit ls-remote <some-repo-url>
./build/native/nativeCompile/jgit clone <some-repo-url>
./build/native/nativeCompile/jgit glog
etc.
(or if building on a Windows machine:
build\native\nativeCompile\jgit.exe --version
build\native\nativeCompile\jgit.exe ls-remote <some-repo-url>
build\native\nativeCompile\jgit.exe clone <some-repo-url>
build\native\nativeCompile\jgit.exe glog
etc.
)
To compile and run the JGit PGM in standard JVM with Maven, execute the
compile then exec:exec task with relevant parameters as needed:
mvnw compile
mvnw exec:exec -Djgit.args="--version"
mvnw exec:exec -Djgit.args="\"ls-remote <some-repo-url>\""
mvnw exec:exec -Djgit.args="\"clone <some-repo-url>\""
mvnw exec:exec -Djgit.args="glog"
etc.
To produce a native executable, execute the package task:
mvnw package
The package task would take a while to compile the application and link into an executable file.
The resulting jgit executable file is:
target/jgit
(or if building on a Windows machine, the executable file is:
target\jgit.exe
)
which can then be run directly (with relevant parameters):
./target/jgit --version
./target/jgit ls-remote <some-repo-url>
./target/jgit clone <some-repo-url>
./target/jgit glog
etc.
(or if building on a Windows machine:
target\jgit.exe --version
target\jgit.exe ls-remote <some-repo-url>
target\jgit.exe clone <some-repo-url>
target\jgit.exe glog
etc.
)