extract currently writes the content into a directory structure the closely resembles the structure of the entries in the jar, with the layer name appearing twice in the path of each extracted file:
<layer-name>/BOOT-INF/layers/<layer-name>/…
We'd like to offer an option to simplify this so that, once extracted, the directory structure looks more like a normal fat jar that has been exploded:
<layer-name>/BOOT-INF/…
This will make it easier for users to use java -cp with an extracted layered jar and for other existing tooling that relies on the current directory structure. It will require a change to the classpath.idx file as it currently includes BOOT-INF/layers/<layer-name>/lib in its entries. We think we can switch to just using the names of the jar files instead.
Comment From: mbhave
Depending on the outcome of #20529 this might not be needed.
Comment From: wilkinsona
This is no longer needed as the layers are entirely represented by the index with no changes to the location of files in the jar.