Build maven jar from classes no java source - maven

Question

I want to build a maven jar artifact from classes. I don't have source files. These classes are originally in another artifact installed locally. I use maven-dependency-plugin to unpack the classes and put them in the target folder for this project/module.
It creates the jar.. but doesn't include the classes I just unpacked. Here's my pom:
<build>
...
<!-- unpack myjar1.jar and myjar2.jar -->
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.8</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>com.company</groupId>
<artifactId>myjar1</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<type>jar</type>
<overWrite>false</overWrite>
<outputDirectory>target/final</outputDirectory>
</artifactItem>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>com.company</groupId>
<artifactId>myjar2</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<type>jar</type>
<overWrite>false</overWrite>
<outputDirectory>target/final</outputDirectory>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>default</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>jar</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<classesDirectory>/path/to/target/final/folder</classesDirectory>
<includes>
<include>**</include>
</includes>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
How can I include these classes into my final.jar?

Answer 1

I think the best solution is the maven-shade-plugin: create a pom.xml, add those 2 libraries as dependencies and configure the maven-shade-plugin.
Run mvn package and you have your merged project.

Answer 2

What Robert wrote above might be a workable solution too.. but I figured a different way out. I simply removed <includes> inside the maven-jar-plugin and it worked. I ran the build in eclipse by creating a build configuration and chose "debug" option. It spit out a lot of info about "configuration" which is otherwise not displayed.
Thanks!
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>default</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>jar</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<classesDirectory>path/to/final/folder</classesDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
This worked!

Answer 3

Another approach is to set ouputDirectory to regular target/classes directory.
target/classes
So that unpacked classes plus your project classes will be avaialble in target/classes which can be bundled in to .jar using regular maven-jar-plugin by specifing **
Complete pom:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.8</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>a.b.c</groupId>
<artifactId>aaa</artifactId>
<type>jar</type>
<overWrite>true</overWrite>
<outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>default</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>jar</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<includes>
<include>**</include>
</includes>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>