Enterprise Archive

Enterprise Archive or Enterprise Application Archive ( EAR for short ) is a term from software in the context of the Java programming language . The term describes both a data format for storing programs and any implementation of this storage format.

It is a file in JAR or ZIP format that contains a complete application program - usually a web application - according to the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) standard . These files have the filename extension “.ear”.

Enterprise application archives make it possible to pack complex applications in one file. This file format is understood by any Java application server that complies with the Java EE standard, e.g. B. WildFly , Oracle WebLogic or WebSphere .

structure

Each Enterprise Application Archive contains a deployment descriptor named "application.xml". This XML file describes the components of the application:

Web Application Archives (WAR files) that contain servlets
Java Archives (JAR files) containing Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), so-called "EJB JARs"
other JAR files with Java class libraries

Web links

Java ™ 2 Platform: Enterprise Edition Specification, v1.4

Individual evidence

^ Bill Shannon: Java ™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Specification, v5 . Sun Microsystems, May 8, 2006, pp. 18 (English, the term Enterprise Archive is introduced here).
^ Bill Shannon: Java ™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Specification, v5 . Sun Microsystems, May 8, 2006, pp. 149 (English, here the format JavaEE enterprise application archive is called).

[1] Bill Shannon: Java ™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Specification, v5 . Sun Microsystems, May 8, 2006, pp. 18 (English, the term Enterprise Archive is introduced here).

[2] Bill Shannon: Java ™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Specification, v5 . Sun Microsystems, May 8, 2006, pp. 149 (English, here the format JavaEE enterprise application archive is called).