What's the difference between apklib and jar files? [duplicate]

Question

I am attempting to switch my Android project over to use Maven using the android-maven-plugin. My project has a few dependencies that are currently setup as Android Libraries, but the Maven plugin for Eclipse does not support library projects. I thought I would experiment with repackaging these libraries as JARs instead (so that Eclipse will pick them up), but I'm wondering what will happen to my Android build, then.

What's the difference between JARs and apklib? If all of my dependencies are JAR instead of apklib, am I missing anything that would break my Android app?

Carlsen

Answer 1

Eclipse now supports library projects and the android-maven-plugin works fine with libraries.

The difference between JARs and apklib is that apklibs can contain android code and resources.

Amblyoscope

m2eclipse supports library projects, but not when they're specified in the POM (code.google.com/a/eclipselabs.org/p/…). – Carlsen

@magneticMonster: That's true. Right now I have everything configured in mvn to run in my CI and in eclipse I add the library by hand. – Amblyoscope

Could you give more exaplnation about difference between apklib and jar? Should I write one more question? – Croydon