Unable to get unpack-dependencies to run before jar:jar, - maven

Question

I cannot get maven-dependency-plugin/unpack-dependencies to run before maven-jar-plugin/jar when running mvn clean install from the command line.
Every time, I see it running jar:jar before the unpack stuff runs, I saw in my googling some talk of adding a pre-package phase to the maven lifecycle, doesn't seem to be working thought.
Basically I want to create a single jar file containing all necessary classes (all 2600 of them). This jar gets a Manifest which enables it to be run in the manner of:
java -jar blah.jar
If I ever get it to work...
And here's the xml snippet...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack-dependencies</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack-dependencies</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>archivedb.Read</mainClass>
</manifest>
</archive>
</configuration>
</plugin>

Answer 1

In your original question, replace the phase with the following phase.
<phase>prepare-package</phase>
this will cause the jars to be extracted first. For your problem, the shade solution is better, but I will still post this here as a reference for other with similar problems where shade does not help.
The output path is set to make sure that jar's contents end up in dir that the jar:jar goal packages (target/classes).
Full plugin execution xml snippet:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack-dependencies</id>
<phase>prepare-package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack-dependencies</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<includes>**/*.class</includes>
<excludes>**/*.properties</excludes>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 2

I had similiar issue with single jar creation.
My solutions incorporates standard maven-dependency plugin with unpack goal (unpacks all dependencies during compile process and move it into custom outputDirectory.
The secret is, JAR plugin takes all from target/classes directory and packs as a one JAR.
That's why I defined custom outputDirectory. Have a look at the code below:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<finalName>${project.artifactId}</finalName>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>pl.company.client.Uploader</mainClass>
</manifest>
</archive>
</configuration>
<version>2.3.1</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<source>1.4</source>
<target>1.4</target>
</configuration>
<version>2.3.2</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack-dependencies</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack-dependencies</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/classes</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>src/main/resources</directory>
</resource>
</resources>

Answer 3

You may run it by identifying the goal sequentially as
"mvn clean dependency:unpack jar:jar install"
I hope this may help you to achieve the requirement
Regards,
Charlee Ch.