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JLINK(1) JDK Commands JLINK(1)

NAME

jlink - assemble and optimize a set of modules and their dependencies into a custom runtime image

SYNOPSIS

jlink [options] --module-path modulepath --add-modules module[,module...]

Command-line options separated by spaces. See jlink Options.
The path where the jlink tool discovers observable modules. These modules can be modular JAR files, JMOD files, or exploded modules.
The names of the modules to add to the runtime image. The jlink tool adds these modules and their transitive dependencies.

DESCRIPTION

The jlink tool links a set of modules, along with their transitive dependences, to create a custom runtime image.

Note:

Developers are responsible for updating their custom runtime images.

JLINK OPTIONS

Adds the named modules, mod, to the default set of root modules. The default set of root modules is empty.
Link service provider modules and their dependencies.
Enable compression of resources. The accepted values are: zip-{0-9}, where zip-0 provides no compression, and zip-9 provides the best compression. Default is zip-6.
Deprecated values to be removed in a future release:
  • 0: No compression. Use zip-0 instead.
  • 1: Constant string sharing
  • 2: ZIP. Use zip-6 instead.
Disables the specified plug-in. See jlink Plug-ins for the list of supported plug-ins.
Specifies the byte order of the generated image. The default value is the format of your system's architecture.
Prints the help message.
Suppresses a fatal error when signed modular JARs are linked in the runtime image. The signature-related files of the signed modular JARs aren't copied to the runtime image.
Specifies the launcher command name for the module or the command name for the module and main class (the module and the main class names are separated by a slash (/)).
Limits the universe of observable modules to those in the transitive closure of the named modules, mod, plus the main module, if any, plus any further modules specified in the --add-modules option.
Lists available plug-ins, which you can access through command-line options; see jlink Plug-ins.
A ":"-separated list of elements (";" on Windows), each of which is a file path to a module or a directory containing modules. Each module is either a modular JAR file, a JMOD file, or an exploded-module directory.
If the specified module path does not contain java.base, it is prepended to the default module path. The default module path contains the standard and JDK modules provided by the JDK running jlink. This allows jlink to find java.base and other modules without specifying their locations to the --module-path option. If the --module-path option is not specified, then only the default module path is used. When creating a run-time image for a different target platform (cross-linking), the specified module path must contain all modules required for the target platform, including java.base.
Excludes header files.
Excludes man pages.
Specifies the location of the generated runtime image.
Saves jlink options in the specified file.
Suggest providers that implement the given service types from the module path.
Prints version information.
@filename
Reads options from the specified file.
An options file is a text file that contains the options and values that you would typically enter in a command prompt. Options may appear on one line or on several lines. You may not specify environment variables for path names. You may comment out lines by prefixing a hash symbol (#) to the beginning of the line. The following is an example of an options file for the jlink command: 
#Wed Dec 07 00:40:19 EST 2016
--module-path mlib
--add-modules com.greetings
--output greetingsapp

JLINK PLUG-INS

Note:

Plug-ins not listed in this section aren't supported and are subject to change.

For plug-in options that require a pattern-list, the value is a comma-separated list of elements, with each element using one the following forms:

  • glob-pattern
  • glob:glob-pattern
  • regex:regex-pattern
  • @filename
•
filename is the name of a file that contains patterns to be used, one pattern per line.

For a complete list of all available plug-ins, run the command jlink --list-plugins.

Plugin compress

--compress=zip-{0-9}[:filter=pattern-list]
Compresses all resources in the output image. Accepted values are: zip-{0-9}, where zip-0 provides no compression, and zip-9 provides the best compression. Default is zip-6.
Deprecated values to be removed in a future release:
  • Level 0: No compression. Use zip-0 instead.
  • Level 1: Constant string sharing
  • Level 2: ZIP. Use zip-6 instead. An optional pattern-list filter can be specified to list the pattern of files to include.

Plugin include-locales

--include-locales=langtag[,langtag]*
Includes the list of locales where langtag is a BCP 47 language tag. This option supports locale matching as defined in RFC 4647. Ensure that you add the module jdk.localedata when using this option.
Example:

--add-modules jdk.localedata --include-locales=en,ja,*-IN

Plugin order-resources

--order-resources=pattern-list
Orders the specified paths in priority order. If @filename is specified, then each line in pattern-list must be an exact match for the paths to be ordered.
Example:

--order-resources=/module-info.class,@classlist,/java.base/java/lang/

Plugin strip-debug

--strip-debug
Strips debug information from the output image.
Source-file names, source-debug extensions, line numbers, and local-variable information are removed from class files. Consequently, stack traces for affected classes omit source-file names and line numbers, and debuggers lose source-line and local-variable information. On supported platforms, native debug symbols are also stripped. External debug-symbol files and directories, such as .pdb, .map, .dSYM, .debuginfo, and .diz, are excluded from the output image.

Plugin generate-cds-archive

--generate-cds-archive
Generate CDS archive if the runtime image supports the CDS feature.

Plugin cacerts

--cacerts=alias[,alias]*
Create the cacerts keystore in the output image with only the certificates of the specified aliases. alias is the name of an alias in the cacerts keystore in the java.base module.

JLINK EXAMPLES

The following command creates a runtime image in the directory greetingsapp. This command links the module com.greetings, whose module definition is contained in the directory mlib.

jlink --module-path mlib --add-modules com.greetings --output greetingsapp

The following command lists the modules in the runtime image greetingsapp:

greetingsapp/bin/java --list-modules
com.greetings
java.base@11
java.logging@11
org.astro@1.0

The following command creates a runtime image in the directory compressedrt that's stripped of debug symbols, uses compression to reduce space, and includes French language locale information:

jlink --add-modules jdk.localedata --strip-debug --compress=2 --include-locales=fr --output compressedrt

The following example compares the size of the runtime image compressedrt with fr_rt, which isn't stripped of debug symbols and doesn't use compression:

jlink --add-modules jdk.localedata --include-locales=fr --output fr_rt
du -sh ./compressedrt ./fr_rt
23M     ./compressedrt
36M     ./fr_rt

The following example lists the providers that implement java.security.Provider:

jlink --suggest-providers java.security.Provider
Suggested providers:


  java.naming provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  java.security.jgss provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  java.security.sasl provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  java.smartcardio provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  java.xml.crypto provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  jdk.crypto.cryptoki provides java.security.Provider used by java.base


  jdk.security.jgss provides java.security.Provider used by java.base

The following example creates a custom runtime image named mybuild that includes only java.naming and jdk.crypto.cryptoki and their dependencies but no other providers. Note that these dependencies must exist in the module path:

jlink --add-modules java.naming,jdk.crypto.cryptoki --output mybuild

The following command is similar to the one that creates a runtime image named greetingsapp, except that it will link the modules resolved from root modules with service binding; see the Configuration.resolveAndBind method.

jlink --module-path mlib --add-modules com.greetings --output greetingsapp --bind-services

The following command lists the modules in the runtime image greetingsapp created by this command:

greetingsapp/bin/java --list-modules
com.greetings
java.base@11
java.compiler@11
java.datatransfer@11
java.desktop@11
java.logging@11
java.management@11
java.management.rmi@11
java.naming@11
java.prefs@11
java.rmi@11
java.security.jgss@11
java.security.sasl@11
java.smartcardio@11
java.xml@11
java.xml.crypto@11
jdk.accessibility@11
jdk.charsets@11
jdk.compiler@11
jdk.crypto.cryptoki@11
jdk.crypto.ec@11
jdk.crypto.mscapi@11
jdk.internal.opt@11
jdk.jartool@11
jdk.javadoc@11
jdk.jdeps@11
jdk.jfr@11
jdk.jlink@11
jdk.localedata@11
jdk.management@11
jdk.management.jfr@11
jdk.naming.dns@11
jdk.naming.rmi@11
jdk.security.auth@11
jdk.security.jgss@11
jdk.zipfs@11
org.astro@1.0
2026 JDK 28-ea