Compilation bloat

[bohums]

I have a small Applet project that imports three java files from a large open source library with few hundred classes, which I link to the complete source and compile in my Eclipse project.

My problem is, instead of just the few classes I use, this entire library is compiled and stuffed along with my Applet .class into a large .jar file.

I suppose I can manually determine the subset of classes from the large library that my applet uses, and link these external sources only in my project.

But that is very cumbersome. Is there a better way?

By the way, in Eclipse, I link to complete external library as source, and create the .jar using the export feature.

Also interested in knowing if the scenario I encounter is standard in Java or Eclipse?

Thanks

[Eranga]

In most of the cases, external packages have lots of classes and only using few for a single functionality or may be in an instance. If you add such external into your project and build, it'll bundle with your build as well.

Unless the provider not provide such simple packages, then you've to manually remove them. But it's not an easy task. There can be references between them.