Including other JARs when packaging

Question

Hello,
I have read the SUN tutorial on how to package my application, which I was able to do and execute fine. The problem is, in my application I use several database connection jar files, such as mysql-connector-java-5.0.4-bin.jar (MySQL) and jt400.jar (AS/400). When I try to do something in my application that uses one of these jar files, such as when I try to log in (uses a MySQL connection), I receive the following error:
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
My application works fine if its not packaged, but when it is, I receive this error. I tried putting the jar files in the package folder, but that did not help. I tried setting my classpath to those files in the package folder, that as well did nothing.
Could anyone help, or point me in the right direction?
Thank you.

Answer 1

But... it still requires me to extract the lib folder
out of the jar, and keep it in the same directory as
my main jar for it to read. I just want to be able
to double click on it and have it launch, without
needing to extract anything..That's the idea. You don't need to extract anything if you distribute your entire directory rather than trying to pack those other JAR files into your JAR file. The idea is that they're separate and your JAR file is linked to them. With your command
jar ... lib/*.jar
You're actually adding the JAR files to yours, rather than leaving them outside of it and just bundling everything up and distributing it. There's good reason to leave those JAR files separate. For example, when your MySQL driver gets updated you can distribute that single JAR file as an update (and perhaps your own if your code changed) rather than having to bundle everything up again and distribute the entire thing.