CLI: no assembly, missing main class to start with java -jar

[fanf]

I tried to build mima to use from the CLI.
There is no documentation to do so, so I tried a sbt packages

But then, I get:

java -jar ....reporter/target/scala-2.10/mima-reporter_2.10-0.1.14.jar --prev XXX --curr YYY 
Error: main class not found: com.typesafe.tools.mima.cli.Main

I 'm wondering if #155 didn't remove/broke the assembly target.

[fanf]

Yeah, that's the problem: reverting to commit before #155 (2cd1d8d) make assembly task available and the CLI usable again.

[SethTisue]

you'll need to provide java with a complete classpath:

% java -classpath /Users/tisue/.sbt/boot/scala-2.10.6/lib/scala-library.jar:/Users/tisue/.sbt/boot/scala-2.10.6/lib/scala-compiler.jar:/Users/tisue/.sbt/boot/scala-2.10.6/lib/scala-reflect.jar:/Users/tisue/.ivy2/cache/com.typesafe/config/bundles/config-1.0.0.jar:/Users/tisue/migration-manager/core/target/scala-2.10/mima-core_2.10-0.1.13-4-gbed1558.jar:/Users/tisue/migration-manager/reporter/target/scala-2.10/mima-reporter_2.10-0.1.13-4-gbed1558.jar com.typesafe.tools.mima.cli.Main
Usage: mima [<options>]

  necessary options:
                             --prev             Previous classpath/jar for binary compatibility testing.
                             --curr             Current classpath/jar for binary compatibility testing.

  optional settings:
                             --classpath        an optional classpath setting
    --filters          an optional problem filters configuration file, applied to both backward and forward checking
    --backward-filters an optional problem filters configuration file, only applied to backward checking
    --forward-filters  an optional problem filters configuration file, only applied to forward checking
    --generate-filters generate filters definition for displayed problems
    --direction        check direction, default is "backward", but can also be "forward" or "both"

[fanf]

@SethTisue : why not provide the assembly task? It would simpler (I know, everyone loves to build classpath by hand, but still, for the laziest of us :). And it would match the documentation.
(I mean, I can leave with the current state, but it is quite surprising for a cli tool - it's also OK if you provide a start script, but it seems to be more work :)

[xuwei-k]

FYI https://github.com/xuwei-k/mima

[SethTisue]

it would match the documentation

I see now that we didn't update https://github.com/typesafehub/migration-manager/wiki/MiMa-Command-Line-Tool at the time we removed the assembly stuff; that was an oversight. (EDIT: I added a note to the top just now, pending the outcome of this discussion.)

why not provide the assembly task?

Well, I don't have a strong feeling about it one way or the other. The main goal of #155 was to get rid of the S3 stuff and simplify our release process. The assembly stuff came out at the same time, just because everyone we asked was only using the sbt plugin, so it wasn't clear the assembly stuff was worth continuing to maintain.

I don't think we want to go to the effort of actually publishing the assembly jar unless there's a strong indication that it would have more than a handful of users. But if someone wants to a submit a PR restoring the assembly task to the build, I wouldn't be opposed.

[fanf]

OH, I don't think you need to publish an assembly, but having the task would simplify the use of the CLI.
I think there is a relevant use case for the CLI (at least, it's that way we want to use it): we (are going to) need to check if external jars are binary compatible or not so that we can provide stable ABI for a plugin ecosystem. We won't own the jar builds (or not all, at least), so we will the cli.

[fanf]

PR is here: #167