protobuf/java/lite.md

Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format

Copyright 2008 Google Inc.

https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/

Use Protobuf Java Lite Runtime

Protobuf Java Lite runtime is separated from the main Java runtime because it's designed/implemented with different constraints. In particular, Java Lite runtime has a much smaller code size which makes it more suitable to be used on Android.

To use Java Lite runtime, you need to install protoc and the protoc plugin for Java Lite runtime. You can obtain protoc following the instructions in the toplevel README.md file. For the protoc plugin, you can download it from maven:

https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/google/protobuf/protoc-gen-javalite/

Choose the version that works on your platform (e.g., on windows you can download protoc-gen-javalite-3.0.0-windows-x86_32.exe), rename it to protoc-gen-javalite (or protoc-gen-javalite.exe on windows) and place it in a directory where it can be find in PATH. If you are using unix like OS then make sure to convert protoc-gen-javalite to unix executable. For example chmod +x protoc-gen-javalite

Once you have the protoc and protoc plugin, you can generate Java Lite code for your .proto files:

$ protoc --javalite_out=${OUTPUT_DIR} path/to/your/proto/file

Include the generated Java files in your project and add a dependency on the protobuf Java runtime. If you are using Maven, use the following:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
  <artifactId>protobuf-lite</artifactId>
  <version>3.0.1</version>
</dependency>

Make sure the version number of the runtime matches (or is newer than) the version number of the protoc plugin. The version number of the protoc doesn't matter and any version >= 3.0.0 should work.

Use Protobuf Java Lite Runtime with Bazel

Bazel has native build rules to work with protobuf. For Java Lite runtime, you can use the java_lite_proto_library rule. Check out our build files examples to learn how to use it.