1Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
2===================================================
3
4[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/google/protobuf.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/google/protobuf)
5
6Copyright 2008 Google Inc.
7
8This directory contains the Java Protocol Buffers runtime library.
9
10Installation - With Maven
11=========================
12
13The Protocol Buffers build is managed using Maven.  If you would
14rather build without Maven, see below.
15
161) Install Apache Maven if you don't have it:
17
18     http://maven.apache.org/
19
202) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc.  If
21   you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
22   version as this package.  If in doubt, run:
23
24     $ protoc --version
25
26   You will need to place the protoc executable in ../src.  (If you
27   built it yourself, it should already be there.)
28
293) Run the tests:
30
31     $ mvn test
32
33   If some tests fail, this library may not work correctly on your
34   system.  Continue at your own risk.
35
364) Install the library into your Maven repository:
37
38     $ mvn install
39
405) If you do not use Maven to manage your own build, you can build a
41   .jar file to use:
42
43     $ mvn package
44
45   The .jar will be placed in the "target" directory.
46
47Installation - 'Lite' Version - With Maven
48==========================================
49
50Building the 'lite' version of the Java Protocol Buffers library is
51the same as building the full version, except that all commands are
52run using the 'lite' profile.  (see
53http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html)
54
55E.g. to install the lite version of the jar, you would run:
56
57    $ mvn install -P lite
58
59The resulting artifact has the 'lite' classifier.  To reference it
60for dependency resolution, you would specify it as:
61
62```
63  <dependency>
64    <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
65    <artifactId>protobuf-java</artifactId>
66    <version>${version}</version>
67    <classifier>lite</classifier>
68  </dependency>
69```
70
71Installation - Without Maven
72============================
73
74If you would rather not install Maven to build the library, you may
75follow these instructions instead.  Note that these instructions skip
76running unit tests.
77
781) Build the C++ code, or obtain a binary distribution of protoc.  If
79   you install a binary distribution, make sure that it is the same
80   version as this package.  If in doubt, run:
81
82     $ protoc --version
83
84   If you built the C++ code without installing, the compiler binary
85   should be located in ../src.
86
872) Invoke protoc to build DescriptorProtos.java:
88
89     $ protoc --java_out=src/main/java -I../src \
90         ../src/google/protobuf/descriptor.proto
91
923) Compile the code in src/main/java using whatever means you prefer.
93
944) Install the classes wherever you prefer.
95
96Usage
97=====
98
99The complete documentation for Protocol Buffers is available via the
100web at:
101
102  https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/
103