Chapter 1. Compiling your Quarkus applications to native executables

As an application developer, you can use Red Hat build of Quarkus to create microservices written in Java that run on OpenShift Container Platform and serverless environments. Applications compiled to native executables have small memory footprints and fast startup times.

This guide shows you how to compile the Quarkus Getting Started project into a native executable and how to configure and test the native executable. You will need the application created in Getting started with Quarkus.

Building a native executable with Red Hat build of Quarkus covers:

Building a native executable with a single command using a container runtime such as Podman or Docker
Creating a custom container image using the produced native executable
Creating a container image using the OpenShift Container Platform Docker build strategy
Deploying the Quarkus native application to OpenShift Container Platform
Configuring the native executable
Testing the native executable

Prerequisites

Have OpenJDK 17 installed and the JAVA_HOME environment variable set to specify the location of the Java SDK.
- Log in to the Red Hat Customer Portal to download Red Hat build of OpenJDK from the Software Downloads page.
An Open Container Initiative (OCI) compatible container runtime, such as Podman or Docker.
A completed Quarkus Getting Started project.
- To learn how to build the Quarkus Getting Started project, see Getting started with Quarkus.
- Alternatively, you can download the Quarkus quickstart archive or clone the Quarkus Quickstarts Git repository. The sample project is in the getting-started directory.

1.1. Producing a native executable

A native binary is an executable that is created to run on a specific operating system (OS) or CPU architecture.

The following list outlines some examples of a native executable:

A universal binary for Mac
An ELF binary for Linux
An EXE binary for Windows

When you build a native executable, one advantage is that your application and dependencies, including the JVM, are packaged into a single file. The native executable for your application contains the following items:

The compiled application code
The Java APIs
The required libraries
A reduced version of the Java virtual machine (JVM) for improved application startup times and minimal disk and memory footprint

To produce a native executable from your Quarkus application, you can select either an in-container build or a local-host build. The following table explains the different building options that you can use:

Table 1.1. Building options for producing a native executable
Building option	Requires	Uses	Results in	Benefits
In-container build - Supported	A container runtime, for example, Podman or Docker	The default `registry.access.redhat.com/quarkus/mandrel-22-rhel8:22.3` builder image	A Linux 64-bit executable	GraalVM does not need to be set up locally, which makes your CI pipelines run more efficiently
Local-host build - Only supported upstream	A local installation of GraalVM or Mandrel	Its local installation as a default for the `quarkus.native.builder-image` property	An executable that has the same OS and CPU architecture as the machine on which the build is executed	An alternative for developers that are not allowed or don’t want to use tools such as Docker or Podman. Overall is faster than containers.

Note

Red Hat build of Quarkus 2.13 only provides support for building native executables based on the Java 17-based Mandrel 22.3 base image.

While other images are available in the community, they are not supported in the product, so you should not use them for production builds that you want Red Hat to provide support for.

Applications whose source is written based on Java 11, with no Java 12 - 17 features used, can still compile a native executable of that application using the Java 17-based Mandrel 22.3 base image.

Important

Red Hat build of Quarkus supports the building of native Linux executables by using a Red Hat build of Quarkus Native builder image, which is a productized distribution of Mandrel. For more information, see Compiling your Quarkus applications to native executables. Building native executables by using Oracle GraalVM Community Edition (CE), Mandrel community edition, or any other distributions of GraalVM is not supported for Red Hat build of Quarkus.

1.1.1. Producing a native executable by using an in-container build

To create a native executable and run the native image tests, use the native profile that is provided by Red Hat build of Quarkus for an in-container build.

Prerequisites

Podman or Docker is installed.
The container has access to at least 8GB of memory.

Procedure

Open the Getting Started project pom.xml file, and verify that the project includes the native profile:

<profiles>
    <profile>
        <id>native</id>
        <properties>
            <quarkus.package.type>native</quarkus.package.type>
        </properties>
    </profile>
</profiles>

Build a native executable by using one of the following ways:
- Using Maven:
  - For Docker:
    ./mvnw package -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true
  - For Podman:
    ./mvnw package -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true -Dquarkus.native.container-runtime=podman
- Using the Quarkus CLI:
  - For Docker:
    quarkus build --native -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true
  - For Podman:
    quarkus build --native -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true -Dquarkus.native.container-runtime=podman
    Step results
    These commands create a *-runner binary in the target directory, where the following applies:
  - The *-runner file is the built native binary produced by Quarkus.
  - The target directory is a directory that Maven creates when you build a Maven application.
    Important
    Compiling a Quarkus application to a native executable consumes a large amount of memory during analysis and optimization. You can limit the amount of memory used during native compilation by setting the quarkus.native.native-image-xmx configuration property. Setting low memory limits might increase the build time.
To run the native executable, enter the following command:
```
./target/*-runner
```

Additional resources

For more information, see 'Native executable configuration properties' in Compiling your Quarkus applications to native executables.

1.1.2. Producing a native executable by using a local-host build

If you are not using Docker or Podman, use the Quarkus local-host build option to create and run a native executable.

Using the local-host build approach is faster than using containers and is suitable for machines that use a Linux operating system.

Important

Using the following procedure in production is not supported by Red Hat build of Quarkus. Use this method only when testing or as a backup approach when Docker or Podman is not available.

Prerequisites

A local installation of Mandrel or GraalVm, correctly configured according to the Building a native executable guide.
- Additionally, for a GraalVM installation, native-image must also be installed.

Procedure

For GraalVM or Mandrel, build a native executable by using one of the following ways:
- Using Maven:
```
./mvnw package -Pnative
```
- Using the Quarkus CLI:
```
quarkus build --native
```
  Step results
  These commands create a *-runner binary in the target directory, where the following applies:
  - The *-runner file is the built native binary produced by Quarkus.
  - The target directory is a directory that Maven creates when you build a Maven application.
    Note
    When you build the native executable, the prod profile is enabled unless modified in the quarkus.profile property.
Run the native executable:
```
./target/*-runner
```
Note
- Native tests run using the prod profile by default unless modified in the quarkus.test.native-image-profile property.

Additional resources

For more information, see Producing a native executable.

1.2. Creating a custom container image

You can create a container image from your Quarkus application using one of the following methods:

Creating a container manually
Creating a container by using the OpenShift Container Platform Docker build

Important

Compiling a Quarkus application to a native executable consumes a large amount of memory during analysis and optimization. You can limit the amount of memory used during native compilation by setting the quarkus.native.native-image-xmx configuration property. Setting low memory limits might increase the build time.

1.2.1. Creating a container manually

This section shows you how to manually create a container image with your application for Linux AMD64. When you produce a native image by using the Quarkus Native container, the native image creates an executable that targets Linux AMD64. If your host operating system is different from Linux AMD64, you cannot run the binary directly and you need to create a container manually.

Your Quarkus Getting Started project includes a Dockerfile.native in the src/main/docker directory with the following content:

FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi-minimal:8.6
WORKDIR /work/
RUN chown 1001 /work \
    && chmod "g+rwX" /work \
    && chown 1001:root /work
COPY --chown=1001:root target/*-runner /work/application

EXPOSE 8080
USER 1001

CMD ["./application", "-Dquarkus.http.host=0.0.0.0"]

Note

Universal Base Image (UBI)

The following list displays the suitable images for use with Dockerfiles.

Red Hat Universal Base Image 8 (UBI8). This base image is designed and engineered to be the base layer for all of your containerized applications, middleware, and utilities.
```
registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi:8.6
```
Red Hat Universal Base Image 8 Minimal (UBI8-minimal). A stripped-down UBI8 image that uses microdnf as a package manager.
```
registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi-minimal:8.6
```
All Red Hat Base images are available on the Container images catalog site.

Procedure

Build a native Linux executable by using one of the following methods:

Docker:

./mvnw package -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true

Podman:

./mvnw package -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true -Dquarkus.native.container-runtime=podman

Build the container image by using one of the following methods:

Docker:

docker build -f src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native -t quarkus-quickstart/getting-started .

Podman

podman build -f src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native -t quarkus-quickstart/getting-started .

Run the container by using one of the following methods:

Docker:

docker run -i --rm -p 8080:8080 quarkus-quickstart/getting-started

Podman:

podman run -i --rm -p 8080:8080 quarkus-quickstart/getting-started

1.2.2. Creating a container by using the OpenShift Docker build

You can create a container image for your Quarkus application by using the OpenShift Container Platform Docker build strategy. This strategy creates a container image by using a build configuration in the cluster.

Prerequisites

You have access to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster and the latest version of the oc tool installed. For information about installing oc, see Installing the CLI in the Installing and configuring OpenShift Container Platform clusters guide.
A URL for the OpenShift Container Platform API endpoint.

Procedure

Log in to the OpenShift CLI:
```
oc login -u <username_url>
```
Create a new project in OpenShift:
```
oc new-project <project_name>
```

Create a build config based on the src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native file:

cat src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native | oc new-build --name <build_name> --strategy=docker --dockerfile -

Build the project:

oc start-build <build_name> --from-dir .

Deploy the project to OpenShift Container Platform:
```
oc new-app <build_name>
```
Expose the services:
```
oc expose svc/<build_name>
```

1.3. Native executable configuration properties

Configuration properties define how the native executable is generated. You can configure your Quarkus application using the application.properties file.

Configuration properties

The following table lists the configuration properties that you can set to define how the native executable is generated:

Property	Description	Type	Default
`quarkus.native.debug.enabled`	If debug is enabled and debug symbols are generated. The symbols will be generated in a separate `.debug` file.	boolean	false
`quarkus.native.resources.excludes`	A comma separated list of globs to match resource paths that should not be added to the native image.	list of strings
`quarkus.native.additional-build-args`	Additional arguments to pass to the build process.	list of strings
`quarkus.native.enable-http-url-handler`	Enables HTTP URL handler. This allows you to do `URL.openConnection()` for HTTP URLs.	boolean	`true`
`quarkus.native.enable-https-url-handler`	Enables HTTPS URL handler. This allows you to do `URL.openConnection()` for HTTPS URLs.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.enable-all-security-services`	Adds all security services to the native image.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.add-all-charsets`	Adds all character sets to the native image. This increases the image size.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.graalvm-home`	Contains the path of the GraalVM distribution.	string	`${GRAALVM_HOME:}`
`quarkus.native.java-home`	Contains the path of the JDK.	File	`${java.home}`
`quarkus.native.native-image-xmx`	The maximum Java heap used to generate the native image.	string
`quarkus.native.debug-build-process`	Waits for a debugger to attach to the build process before running the native image build. This is an advanced option for those familiar with GraalVM internals.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.publish-debug-build-process-port`	Publishes the debug port when building with docker if `debug-build-process` is `true`.	boolean	`true`
`quarkus.native.cleanup-server`	Restarts the native image server.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.enable-isolates`	Enables isolates to improve memory management.	boolean	`true`
`quarkus.native.enable-fallback-images`	Creates a JVM-based fallback image if the native image fails.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.enable-server`	Uses the native image server. This can speed up compilation but can result in lost changes due to cache invalidation issues.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.auto-service-loader-registration`	Automatically registers all `META-INF/services` entries.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.dump-proxies`	Dumps the bytecode of all proxies for inspection.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.container-build`	Builds using a container runtime. Docker is used by default.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.builder-image`	The docker image to build the image.	string	`registry.access.redhat.com/quarkus/mandrel-22-rhel8:22.3`
`quarkus.native.container-runtime`	The container runtime used build the image. For example, Docker.	string
`quarkus.native.container-runtime-options`	Options to pass to the container runtime.	list of strings
`quarkus.native.enable-vm-inspection`	Enables VM introspection in the image.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.full-stack-traces`	Enables full stack traces in the image.	boolean	`true`
`quarkus.native.enable-reports`	Generates reports on call paths and included packages/classes/methods.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.report-exception-stack-traces`	Reports exceptions with a full stack trace.	boolean	`true`
`quarkus.native.report-errors-at-runtime`	Reports errors at runtime. This may cause your application to fail at runtime if you use unsupported features.	boolean	`false`
`quarkus.native.resources.includes`	A comma-separated list of globs to match resource paths that should be added to the native image. Use a slash (`/`) character as a path separator on all platforms. Globs must not start with a slash. For example, if you have `src/main/resources/ignored.png` and `src/main/resources/foo/selected.png` in your source tree and one of your dependency JARs contains a `bar/some.txt` file, with `quarkus.native.resources.includes` set to `foo/,bar//*.txt`, the files `src/main/resources/foo/selected.png` and `bar/some.txt` will be included in the native image, while `src/main/resources/ignored.png` will not be included. For more information, see the following table, which lists the supported glob features.	list of strings
`quarkus.native.debug.enabled`	Enables debugging and generates debug symbols in a separate `.debug` file. When used with `quarkus.native.container-build`, Red Hat build of Quarkus only supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux or other Linux distributions as they contain the `binutils` package that installs the `objcopy` utility that splits the debug info from the native image.	boolean	`false`

Supported glob features

The following table lists the supported glob features and descriptions:

Character	Feature description
`*`	Matches a possibly-empty sequence of characters that does not contain slash (`/`).
`**`	Matches a possibly-empty sequence of characters that might contain slash (`/`).
`?`	Matches one character, but not slash.
`[abc]`	Matches one character specified in the bracket, but not slash.
`[a-z]`	Matches one character from the range specified in the bracket, but not slash.
`[!abc]`	Matches one character not specified in the bracket; does not match slash.
`[!a-z]`	Matches one character outside the range specified in the bracket; does not match slash.
`{one,two,three}`	Matches any of the alternating tokens separated by commas; the tokens may contain wildcards, nested alternations, and ranges.
`\`	The escape character. There are three levels of escaping: `application.properties` parser, MicroProfile Config list converter, and Glob parser. All three levels use the backslash as the escape character.

Additional resources

Configuring your Quarkus applications

1.3.1. Configuring memory consumption for Quarkus native compilation

Procedure

Use one of the following methods to set a value for the quarkus.native.native-image-xmx property to limit the memory consumption during the native image build time:
- Using the application.properties file:
```
quarkus.native.native-image-xmx=<maximum_memory>
```
- Setting system properties:
```
mvn -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true -Dquarkus.native.native-image-xmx=<maximum_memory>
```
  This command builds the native executable with Docker. To use Podman, add the -Dquarkus.native.container-runtime=podman argument.

Note

For example, to set the memory limit to 6 GB, enter quarkus.native.native-image-xmx=6g. The value must be a multiple of 1024 and greater than 2MB. Append the letter m or M to indicate megabytes, or g or G to indicate gigabytes.

1.4. Testing the native executable

Test the application in native mode to test the functionality of the native executable. Use the @QuarkusIntegrationTest annotation to build the native executable and run tests against the HTTP endpoints.

Procedure

Open the pom.xml file and verify that the native profile has the following elements:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${surefire-plugin.version}</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <goals>
                <goal>integration-test</goal>
                <goal>verify</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <systemPropertyVariables>
                    <native.image.path>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}-runner</native.image.path>
                    <java.util.logging.manager>org.jboss.logmanager.LogManager</java.util.logging.manager>
                    <maven.home>${maven.home}</maven.home>
                </systemPropertyVariables>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

The Maven Failsafe plugin (maven-failsafe-plugin) runs the integration test and also indicates the location of the native executable that is generated.

Open the src/test/java/org/acme/quickstart/NativeGreetingResourceIT.java file and verify that it includes the following content:
```
package org.acme.getting.started;

import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusIntegrationTest;

@QuarkusIntegrationTest 1
public class GreetingResourceIT extends GreetingResourceTest { 2

    // Execute the same tests but in native mode.
}
```
1
Use another test runner that starts the application from the native file before the tests. The executable is retrieved by using the native.image.path system property configured in the Maven Failsafe plugin.
2
This example extends the GreetingResourceTest, but you can also create a new test.

Run the test:

./mvnw verify -Pnative

The following example shows the output of this command:

./mvnw verify -Pnative
...
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]     universe:     587.26 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]      (parse):   2,247.59 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]     (inline):   1,985.70 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]    (compile):  14,922.77 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]      compile:  20,361.28 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]        image:   2,228.30 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]        write:     364.35 ms
[getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner:18820]      [total]:  52,777.76 ms
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-failsafe-plugin:2.22.1:integration-test (default) @ getting-started ---
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]  T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running org.acme.quickstart.NativeGreetingResourceIT
Executing [/data/home/gsmet/git/quarkus-quickstarts/getting-started/target/getting-started-1.0-SNAPSHOT-runner, -Dquarkus.http.port=8081, -Dtest.url=http://localhost:8081, -Dquarkus.log.file.path=build/quarkus.log]
2019-04-15 11:33:20,348 INFO  [io.quarkus] (main) Quarkus 999-SNAPSHOT started in 0.002s. Listening on: http://[::]:8081
2019-04-15 11:33:20,348 INFO  [io.quarkus] (main) Installed features: [cdi, resteasy]
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 1.387 s - in org.acme.quickstart.NativeGreetingResourceIT
...

Note

Quarkus waits for 60 seconds for the native image to start before automatically failing the native tests. You can change this duration by configuring the quarkus.test.wait-time system property.

You can extend the wait time by using the following command where <duration> is the wait time in seconds:

./mvnw verify -Pnative -Dquarkus.test.wait-time=<duration>

1.4.1. Excluding tests when running as a native executable

When you run tests against your native application, you can only interact with its HTTP endpoints. Because tests do not run natively, you cannot link against your application’s code like you do when running tests on the JVM.

You can share your test class between your JVM and native executions and exclude certain tests using the @DisabledOnNativeImage annotation to run tests only on the JVM.

1.4.2. Testing an existing native executable

By using the Failsafe Maven plugin, you can test against the existing executable build. You can run multiple sets of tests in stages on the binary after it is built.

Note

To test the native executable that you produced with Quarkus, use the available Maven commands. There are no equivalent Quarkus CLI commands to complete this task by using the command line.

Procedure

Run a test against a native executable that is already built:
```
./mvnw test-compile failsafe:integration-test
```
This command runs the test against the existing native image by using the Failsafe Maven plugin.
Alternatively, you can specify the path to the native executable with the following command where <path> is the native image path:
```
./mvnw test-compile failsafe:integration-test -Dnative.image.path=<path>
```

1.5. Additional resources

Revised on 2024-04-16 11:28:24 UTC

Chapter 1. Compiling your Quarkus applications to native executables

1.1. Producing a native executable

1.1.1. Producing a native executable by using an in-container build

1.1.2. Producing a native executable by using a local-host build

1.2. Creating a custom container image

1.2.1. Creating a container manually

1.2.2. Creating a container by using the OpenShift Docker build

1.3. Native executable configuration properties

1.3.1. Configuring memory consumption for Quarkus native compilation

1.4. Testing the native executable

1.4.1. Excluding tests when running as a native executable

1.4.2. Testing an existing native executable

1.5. Additional resources

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