# Am I forced to use Maven to create a plugin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [May 1, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774 "2013-05-01T21:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_G\_Ortega](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/david_g_ortega/32/46359_2.png) [@David\_G\_Ortega](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_G_Ortega)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/1 "2013-05-01T21:09:51Z")
Hi, I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files and deal with that mess. Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/2 "2013-05-01T21:34:07Z")
You can use whatever you want to construct a plugin jar. My first plugin was written in Scala and I used SBT for the build process. -- Ivan On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 2:09 PM, David G Ortega [g.ortega.david@gmail.com](mailto:g.ortega.david@gmail.com)wrote: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use > maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files > and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![David\_G\_Ortega](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/david_g_ortega/32/46359_2.png) [@David\_G\_Ortega](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_G_Ortega)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/3 "2013-05-01T23:11:38Z")
Hi Ivan, thanks for the reply. As far I understand the only thing I have to set up is the es-plugin.properties so I have set up a sample project on eclipse that goes like this: src/es-plugin.properties src/org/java-code-here I export the jar file and I drop it into plugins folder I start elasticsearch and throws a classnotfoundexception [2013-05-02 01:01:23,086][WARN][plugins] [Ramrod] failed to load plugin from [jar:file:/C:/Stack/elasticsearch-0.19.9/lib/test.jar!/es-plugin.properties] java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin the content of es-plugin.properties is plugin= org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin The only issue that I can think is that Im using java.exe in windows enviroment and ES can not resolve the classpath... Any idea? El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use > maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files > and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/4 "2013-05-02T01:02:34Z")
Not sure it's your concern here but try to remove the space after = sign: > plugin=org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin BTW, why don't you want to use Maven? -- David 😉 Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs Le 2 mai 2013 à 01:11, David G Ortega [g.ortega.david@gmail.com](mailto:g.ortega.david@gmail.com) a écrit : > Hi Ivan, > > thanks for the reply. As far I understand the only thing I have to set up is the es-plugin.properties so I have set up a sample project on eclipse that goes like this: > > src/es-plugin.properties > src/org/java-code-here > > I export the jar file and I drop it into plugins folder I start elasticsearch and throws a classnotfoundexception > > [2013-05-02 01:01:23,086][WARN][plugins] [Ramrod] failed to load plugin from [jar:file:/C:/Stack/elasticsearch-0.19.9/lib/test.jar!/es-plugin.properties] > java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin > > the content of es-plugin.properties is > plugin= org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin > > The only issue that I can think is that Im using java.exe in windows enviroment and ES can not resolve the classpath... Any idea? > > El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > > > Hi, > > > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files and deal with that mess. > > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![David\_G\_Ortega](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/david_g_ortega/32/46359_2.png) [@David\_G\_Ortega](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_G_Ortega)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/5 "2013-05-02T08:15:43Z")
Hi David, thanks for the reply!! In the code the space does not exists. Definetely has to be the classpath. I don't use Maven just because I use a lot of propietary source and I can not put that code in maven central, I would have to install all the files in Maven or create a private repo... Im going to prepare Ivan's code sample in an eclipse project and post it here and see... El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use > maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files > and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 8:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/6 "2013-05-02T08:24:15Z")
IMHO, as soon as org.example.elasticseach.plugin.TestPlugin.class exists in your test.jar file, it should work. -- David Pilato | Technical Advocate | [Elasticsearch.com](http://Elasticsearch.com) @dadoonet | @elasticsearchfr | @scrutmydocs Le 2 mai 2013 à 10:15, David G Ortega [g.ortega.david@gmail.com](mailto:g.ortega.david@gmail.com) a écrit : > Hi David, thanks for the reply!! > > In the code the space does not exists. Definetely has to be the classpath. > I don't use Maven just because I use a lot of propietary source and I can not put that code in maven central, I would have to install all the files in Maven or create a private repo... > > Im going to prepare Ivan's code sample in an eclipse project and post it here and see... > > El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![David\_G\_Ortega](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/david_g_ortega/32/46359_2.png) [@David\_G\_Ortega](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_G_Ortega)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/7 "2013-05-02T08:57:46Z")
Hi David, I checked the jar and its right there with the proper manifesto files and the es-plugin.properties file... I think this has to be one of those classnotfoundexception errors regarding to the classpath like the well known jdbc error... Urlclassloader.run does not know where to find it I have even setted the classpath manually but it does not work... El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use > maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files > and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/8 "2013-05-02T09:02:49Z")
Can you upload somewhere your jar file? -- David 😉 Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs Le 2 mai 2013 à 10:57, David G Ortega [g.ortega.david@gmail.com](mailto:g.ortega.david@gmail.com) a écrit : > Hi David, > > I checked the jar and its right there with the proper manifesto files and the es-plugin.properties file... > I think this has to be one of those classnotfoundexception errors regarding to the classpath like the well known jdbc error... > Urlclassloader.run does not know where to find it I have even setted the classpath manually but it does not work... > > El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > > > Hi, > > > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files and deal with that mess. > > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/9 "2013-05-02T10:12:32Z")
To use Maven, you do NOT need to put code in Maven Central, and also, you do NOT have to install all the files in Maven or create a private repo. Just install Maven from Apache site and execute "mvn install", this will do everything, it will download all dependencies into $HOME/.m2 - it is absolutely no effort, beside the first run which will take a few minutes. This is most convenient, since with ant, you have to spend a lot of your time sorting out the inclusion od ES jars, the ES dependency jars, the ES optional jars etc. But this convenience is not a Maven specific feature. So do not worry. Let me explain how ES looks for classpath-based plugins when it starts up by executing bin/elasticsearch. - in the shell script, the JVM is instructed to use all jars in $ES\_HOME/lib/\*.jar as class path. So you can safely put jars with es-plugin.properties in the root folder into the $ES\_HOME/lib folder and it will be picked up being on the class path. But this is not recommended, because you mix up the core code with plugin code, which is bad for maintainability. - before ES node is started, the PluginManager of ES adds classpath-based plugins also by retrieving es-plugin.properties from jars in the configurable plugin path in the file system folders $ES\_HOME/plugins//. To adjust this, just set a path.plugins directive in $ES\_HOME/config/elasticsearch.yml (or on command line) Jörg Am 02.05.13 10:15, schrieb David G Ortega: > Hi David, thanks for the reply!! > > In the code the space does not exists. Definetely has to be the classpath. > I don't use Maven just because I use a lot of propietary source and I > can not put that code in maven central, I would have to install all > the files in Maven or create a private repo... > > Im going to prepare Ivan's code sample in an eclipse project and post > it here and see... > > El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > > ``` > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont > use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the > jars from files and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? > > ``` > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![David\_G\_Ortega](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/david_g_ortega/32/46359_2.png) [@David\_G\_Ortega](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/David_G_Ortega)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/10 "2013-05-03T00:06:00Z")
Hi Jorg, thanks for the reply!! I tried also droping the jars into the lib folder of ES. Finally was a corruption of the eclipse project. I started a new project, copied the files into the new one and exported the jar... voila the plugin was working like a charm. I realized it just because when I just tried a instantiation of the plugin class inside a main method eclipse raised an exception in the main thread. Weird... I was thinking to set up a github project with an eclipse template project with Ivan's Helloworld plugin for not maveners... Also that will break the believe of many people that really think that ES is forced to be with maven... I have read soooooo many blogs telling you that, about 5 of 8 plugin tutorials do really believe that you have to have that maven and folder structure. In fact I dont really understand also why all plugin contributors are releasing the plugins inside the org.elasticsearch package... I prefer to use my package name... What do you think guys about that? Thanks all!! El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use > maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files > and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/11 "2013-05-03T05:37:45Z")
> why all plugin contributors are releasing the plugins inside the > org.elasticsearch package... I prefer to use my package name... > Copy & paste effect. When I started to write some plugins, I just cloned existing plugins and keep them in org.elasticsearch package. For newer plugins, I started to use my own package name. About Maven, I found very easy to create the final assembly (ZIP) when it came to dependencies. If it's a standalone plugin, it's probably easy to build it without Maven. That said, Maven is now somehow a defacto standard tool, as 'make' is... That's probably the reason so many authors use it now when they want to open source the project and gain contributors. No need to say that if you release one day your project, I won't be able to patch it quickly as I don't use Eclipse and I don't have Ant. ## My 2 cents, Best David 😉 Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs Le 3 mai 2013 à 02:06, David G Ortega [g.ortega.david@gmail.com](mailto:g.ortega.david@gmail.com) a écrit : Hi Jorg, thanks for the reply!! I tried also droping the jars into the lib folder of ES. Finally was a corruption of the eclipse project. I started a new project, copied the files into the new one and exported the jar... voila the plugin was working like a charm. I realized it just because when I just tried a instantiation of the plugin class inside a main method eclipse raised an exception in the main thread. Weird... I was thinking to set up a github project with an eclipse template project with Ivan's Helloworld plugin for not maveners... Also that will break the believe of many people that really think that ES is forced to be with maven... I have read soooooo many blogs telling you that, about 5 of 8 plugin tutorials do really believe that you have to have that maven and folder structure. In fact I dont really understand also why all plugin contributors are releasing the plugins inside the org.elasticsearch package... I prefer to use my package name... What do you think guys about that? Thanks all!! El miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013 23:09:51 UTC+2, David G Ortega escribió: > Hi, > > I have an app that I would like to convert to a plugin but I dont use maven. Im using also closed source so I have to install the jars from files and deal with that mess. > Am I forced to use maven to create ES plugins? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/12 "2013-05-03T08:08:13Z")
I think we need a summary and an update of all the notes kimchy has already given about plugin development. Of course it is possible to write ES plugin development tutorials for ant, ivy, gradle etc. The reason why maven is documented better is that ES itself is built with maven and nobody likes to reinvent the wheel. Maven is easy to use, it manages dependencies automatically (once the ES jars are in Maven central repo your maven for plugin development can fetch the current version from there), there is command line support, it works on every OS out of the box, and there is vast IDE support, so you can start your favorite IDE and you are right in the middle of developing with ES 🙂 The package name convention has never been an issue. My opionion is, it should be org.elasticsearch for the core team, just to assist the community members in identifying the code origin better. The package name selection of my plugins are dating back before the founding of the company so it was just by copying from kimchy's example plugins without considering a suitable naming strategy. But I will switch to org.xbib.elasticsearch asap... Jörg Am 03.05.13 02:06, schrieb David G Ortega: > I have read soooooo many blogs telling you that, about 5 of 8 plugin > tutorials do really believe that you have to have that maven and > folder structure. In fact I dont really understand also why all plugin > contributors are releasing the plugins inside the org.elasticsearch > package... I prefer to use my package name... > > What do you think guys about that? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/am-i-forced-to-use-maven-to-create-a-plugin/11774/13 "2017-07-06T02:38:31Z")