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Native Image Build Overview

The syntax of the native-image command is:

• native-image [options] <mainclass> [imagename] [options] to build a native binary from the main class in the current working directory. The classpath may optionally be provided with the -cp <classpath> option where <classpath> is a colon-separated (on Windows, semicolon-separated) list of paths to directories and JAR files.
• native-image [options] -jar jarfile [imagename] [options] to build a native binary from a JAR file.
• native-image [options] -m <module>/<mainClass> [imagename] [options] to build a native binary from a Java module.

The options passed to native-image are evaluated from left to right. For an overview of options that can be passed to native-image, see here.

Getting Notified When the Build Process Is Done #

Depending on the size of your application and the available resources of your build machine, it can take a few minutes to compile your Java application into a native executable. If you are building your application in the background, consider using a command that notifies you when the build process is completed. Below, example commands are listed per operating system:

Linux

# Ring the terminal bell
native-image -jar App.jar ... ; printf '\a'

# Use libnotify to create a desktop notification
native-image -jar App.jar ... ; notify-send "GraalVM Native Image build completed with exit code $?"

# Use Zenity to open an info dialog box with text
native-image -jar App.jar ... ; zenity --info --text="GraalVM Native Image build completed with exit code $?"

macOS

# Ring the terminal bell
native-image -jar App.jar ... ; printf '\a'

# Use Speech Synthesis
native-image -jar App.jar ... ; say "GraalVM Native Image build completed"

Windows

# Ring the terminal bell (press Ctrl+G to enter ^G)
native-image.exe -jar App.jar & echo ^G

# Open an info dialog box with text
native-image.exe -jar App.jar & msg "%username%" GraalVM Native Image build completed

Further Reading #

If you are new to GraalVM Native Image or have little experience using it, see the Native Image Basics to better understand some key aspects before going further.

For more tweaks and how to properly configure the native-image tool, see Build Configuration.

Native Image outputs the progress and various statistics when building a native binary. To learn more about the output, and the different build phases, see Build Output.