Compiling your Red Hat build of Quarkus applications to native executables
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Chapter 1. Compiling your Red Hat build of Quarkus applications to native executables
As an application developer, you can use Red Hat build of Quarkus 3.8 to create microservices written in Java that run on OpenShift Container Platform and serverless environments. Quarkus applications can run as regular Java applications (on top of a Java Virtual Machine), or be compiled into native executables. Applications compiled to native executables have a smaller memory footprint and faster startup times than their Java counterpart.
This guide shows you how to compile the Red Hat build of Quarkus 3.8 Getting Started project into a native executable and how to configure and test the native executable. You will need the application that you created earlier in Getting started with Red Hat build of Quarkus.
Building a native executable with Red Hat build of Quarkus covers:
- Building a native executable with a single command by using a container runtime such as Podman or Docker
- Creating a custom container image by using the produced native executable
- Creating a container image by 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 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 Red Hat build of Quarkus.
-
Alternatively, you can download the Quarkus Quickstarts 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 and CPU architecture.
The following list outlines some examples of a native executable:
- An ELF binary for Linux AMD 64 bits
- An EXE binary for Windows AMD 64 bits
- An ELF binary for ARM 64 bits
Only the ELF binary for Linux AMD 64 bits is supported in Red Hat build of Quarkus.
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 required Java libraries
- A reduced version of the virtual machine (VM) for improved application startup times and minimal disk and memory footprint, which is also tailored for the application code and its dependencies
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:
Building option | Requires | Uses | Results in | Benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
In-container build - Supported | A container runtime, for example, Podman or Docker |
The default | A Linux 64-bit executable using the CPU architecture of the host | 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 | An executable that has the same operating system and CPU architecture as the machine on which the build is executed | An alternative for developers that are not allowed or do not want to use tools such as Docker or Podman. Overall, it is faster than the in-container build approach. |
- Red Hat build of Quarkus 3.8 only supports the building of native Linux executables by using a Java 21-based Red Hat build of Quarkus Native builder image, which is a productized distribution of Mandrel. 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 17, with no Java 18 - 21 features used, can still compile a native executable of that application by using the Java 21-based Mandrel 23.1 base image.
- 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 thenative
profile:<profiles> <profile> <id>native</id> <activation> <property> <name>native</name> </property> </activation> <properties> <skipITs>false</skipITs> <quarkus.package.type>native</quarkus.package.type> </properties> </profile> </profiles>
Build a native executable by using one of the following methods:
Using Maven:
For Docker:
./mvnw package -Dnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true
For Podman:
./mvnw package -Dnative -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 thetarget
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.ImportantCompiling 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
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.
Red Hat build of Quarkus does not support using the following procedure in production. 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.
-
Additionally, for a GraalVM installation,
Procedure
For GraalVM or Mandrel, build a native executable by using one of the following methods:
Using Maven:
./mvnw package -Dnative
Using the Quarkus CLI:
quarkus build --native
Step results
These commands create a
*-runner
binary in thetarget
directory, where the following applies:-
The
*-runner
file is the built native binary that Quarkus produces. The
target
directory is a directory that Maven creates when you build a Maven application.NoteWhen you build the native executable, the
prod
profile is enabled unless modified in thequarkus.profile
property.
-
The
Run the native executable:
./target/*-runner
Additional resources
For more information, see the Producing a native executable section of the Quarkus "Building a native executable" guide.
1.2. Creating a custom container image
You can create a container image from your Quarkus application by using one of the following methods:
- Creating a container manually
- Creating a container by using the OpenShift Container Platform Docker build
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
You can 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:8.9 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 ENTRYPOINT ["./application", "-Dquarkus.http.host=0.0.0.0"]
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:8.9
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:8.9
- 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 -Dnative -Dquarkus.native.container-build=true
Podman:
./mvnw package -Dnative -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 installingoc
, 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 by 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 |
|
If debug is enabled and debug symbols are generated, the symbols are generated in a separate | boolean | false |
| A comma-separated list of globs to match resource paths that should not be added to the native image. | list of strings | |
| Additional arguments to pass to the build process. | list of strings | |
|
Enables HTTP URL handler, with which you can do | boolean |
|
|
Enables HTTPS URL handler, with which you can do | boolean |
|
| Adds all security services to the native image. | boolean |
|
| Adds all character sets to the native image. This increases the image size. | boolean |
|
| Contains the path of the GraalVM distribution. | string |
|
| Contains the path of the JDK. | file |
|
| The maximum Java heap used to generate the native image. | string | |
| 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 |
|
|
Publishes the debug port when building with docker if | boolean |
|
| Restarts the native image server. | boolean |
|
| Enables isolates to improve memory management. | boolean |
|
| Creates a JVM-based fallback image if the native image fails. | boolean |
|
| Uses the native image server. This can speed up compilation but can result in lost changes due to cache invalidation issues. | boolean |
|
|
Automatically registers all | boolean |
|
| Dumps the bytecode of all proxies for inspection. | boolean |
|
| Builds that use a container runtime. Docker is used by default. | boolean |
|
| The docker image to build the image. | string |
|
| The container runtime used to build the image. For example, Docker. | string | |
| Options to pass to the container runtime. | list of strings | |
| Enables VM introspection in the image. | boolean |
|
| Enables full stack traces in the image. | boolean |
|
| Generates reports on call paths and included packages, classes, or methods. | boolean |
|
| Reports exceptions with a full stack trace. | boolean |
|
| Reports errors at runtime. This might cause your application to fail at runtime if you use unsupported features. | boolean |
|
|
A comma-separated list of globs to match resource paths that should be added to the native image. Use a slash ( | list of strings | |
|
Enables debugging and generates debug symbols in a separate | boolean |
|
During build configuration, you can use glob patterns if you want to include a set of files or resources that share a common pattern or location in your project.
For example, if you have a directory that contains multiple configuration files, you can use a glob pattern to include all files within that directory.
For example:
quarkus.native.resources.includes = my/config/files/*
The following example shows a comma-separated list of globs to match resource paths to add to the native image. These patterns result in adding any .png
images found on the classpath to the native image as well as all files that end with .txt
under the folder bar even if nested under subdirectories:
quarkus.native.resources.includes = **/*.png,bar/**/*.txt
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. |
| Matches one character specified in the bracket, but not slash. |
| Matches one character from the range specified in the bracket, but not slash. |
| Matches one character not specified in the bracket; does not match slash. |
| Matches one character outside the range specified in the bracket; does not match slash. |
| Matches any of the alternating tokens separated by commas; the tokens can contain wildcards, nested alternations, and ranges. |
|
The escape character. There are three levels of escaping: |
Additional resources
1.3.1. Configuring memory consumption for Red Hat build of Quarkus native compilation
Compiling a Red Hat build of 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.
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 package -Dnative -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.
For example, to set the memory limit to 8 GB, enter quarkus.native.native-image-xmx=8g
. 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.
The following example shows how to test a native executable with a local installation of GraalVM or Mandrel. Before you begin, consider the following points:
- Red Hat build of Quarkus does not support this scenario, as outlined in Producing a native executable.
- The native executable you are testing with here must match the operating system and architecture of the host. Therefore, this procedure does not work on a macOS or an in-container build.
Procedure
Open the
pom.xml
file and verify that thebuild
section 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 indicates the location of the native executable that is generated.
-
The Maven Failsafe plugin (
Open the
src/test/java/org/acme/GreetingResourceIT.java
file and verify that it includes the following content:package org.acme; import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusIntegrationTest; @QuarkusIntegrationTest 1 public class GreetingResourceIT extends GreetingResourceTest { 2 // Execute the same tests but in native mode. }
Run the test:
./mvnw verify -Dnative
The following example shows the output of this command:
./mvnw verify -Dnative .... GraalVM Native Image: Generating 'getting-started-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-runner' (executable)... ======================================================================================================================== [1/8] Initializing... (6.6s @ 0.22GB) Java version: 17.0.7+7, vendor version: Mandrel-23.1.0.0-Final Graal compiler: optimization level: 2, target machine: x86-64-v3 C compiler: gcc (redhat, x86_64, 13.2.1) Garbage collector: Serial GC (max heap size: 80% of RAM) 2 user-specific feature(s) - io.quarkus.runner.Feature: Auto-generated class by Red Hat build of Quarkus from the existing extensions - io.quarkus.runtime.graal.DisableLoggingFeature: Disables INFO logging during the analysis phase [2/8] Performing analysis... [******] (40.0s @ 2.05GB) 10,318 (86.40%) of 11,942 types reachable 15,064 (57.36%) of 26,260 fields reachable 52,128 (55.75%) of 93,501 methods reachable 3,298 types, 109 fields, and 2,698 methods registered for reflection 63 types, 68 fields, and 55 methods registered for JNI access 4 native libraries: dl, pthread, rt, z [3/8] Building universe... (5.9s @ 1.31GB) [4/8] Parsing methods... [**] (3.7s @ 2.08GB) [5/8] Inlining methods... [***] (2.0s @ 1.92GB) [6/8] Compiling methods... [******] (34.4s @ 3.25GB) [7/8] Layouting methods... [[7/8] Layouting methods... [**] (4.1s @ 1.78GB) [8/8] Creating image... [**] (4.5s @ 2.31GB) 20.93MB (48.43%) for code area: 33,233 compilation units 21.95MB (50.80%) for image heap: 285,664 objects and 8 resources 337.06kB ( 0.76%) for other data 43.20MB in total .... [INFO] [INFO] --- maven-failsafe-plugin:3.0.0-M7:integration-test (default) @ getting-started --- [INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider [INFO] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] T E S T S [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] Running org.acme.GreetingResourceIT __ ____ __ _____ ___ __ ____ ______ --/ __ \/ / / / _ | / _ \/ //_/ / / / __/ -/ /_/ / /_/ / __ |/ , _/ ,< / /_/ /\ \ --\___\_\____/_/ |_/_/|_/_/|_|\____/___/ 2024-06-27 14:04:52,681 INFO [io.quarkus] (main) getting-started 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT native (powered by Quarkus 3.8.6.redhat-00005) started in 0.038s. Listening on: http://0.0.0.0:8081 2024-06-27 14:04:52,682 INFO [io.quarkus] (main) Profile prod activated. 2024-06-27 14:04:52,682 INFO [io.quarkus] (main) Installed features: [cdi, resteasy-reactive, smallrye-context-propagation, vertx] [INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 4.696 s - in org.acme.GreetingResourceIT [INFO] [INFO] Results: [INFO] [INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0 [INFO] [INFO] [INFO] --- maven-failsafe-plugin:3.0.0-M7:verify (default) @ getting-started ---
NoteQuarkus waits 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 -Dnative -Dquarkus.test.wait-time=<duration>
Note-
By default, native tests run by using the
prod
profile unless modified in thequarkus.test.native-image-profile
property.
-
By default, native tests run by using the
1.4.1. Excluding tests when running as a native executable
When you run tests against your native executable, you can only run black-box testing, for example, interacting with the HTTP endpoints of your application.
Black box refers to the hidden internal workings of a product or program, such as in black-box testing.
Because tests do not run natively, you cannot link against your application’s code like you do when running tests on the JVM. Therefore, in your native tests, you cannot inject beans.
You can share your test class between your JVM and native executions and exclude certain tests by using the @DisabledOnIntegrationTest
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.
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 -Dnative
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
- Deploying your Red Hat build of Quarkus applications to OpenShift Container Platform
- Developing and compiling your Red Hat build of Quarkus applications with Apache Maven
- Quarkus community: Building a native executable
- Apache Maven Project
- Red Hat Universal Base Image 8 Minimal
- The List of UBI-minimal Tags
Revised on 2024-09-19 20:40:14 UTC