JAR file should not be part of repo

[GaspardMerten]

We should include a release process using GitHub Releases and Actions to publish a jar instead of including it as a file in the git repo.

[estebanzimanyi]

Status (2026-05-11) — still valid; partial progress

This issue remains accurate: jar/JMEOS.jar (478 KB) is still a tracked binary in the repo. The build pipeline now produces it deterministically, so moving to GitHub Releases is a packaging change rather than a build-process change.

What's in place that helps

PR #15 (feat/regen-against-meos-1.4) ships a self-contained regen pipeline:

scripts/regenerate.sh /path/to/MobilityDB
mvn package -Dmaven.test.skip=true

That re-derives src/main/java/builder/resources/meos.h from current MEOS headers, runs FunctionsExtractor + FunctionsGenerator, applies the post-regen wrapper-fix patcher, and writes a fresh jar/JMEOS.jar. So a release-actions workflow can do exactly the same on a tag push without needing a pre-committed jar in the repo.

Suggested release workflow shape

1. Drop jar/JMEOS.jar from the repo (git rm jar/JMEOS.jar); add to .gitignore.
2. Add .github/workflows/release.yml that on tag push (v1.4.x) runs:
   • Checkout MobilityDB at the matching MEOS tag (or pinned commit)
   • scripts/regenerate.sh + mvn package
   • Upload jar/JMEOS.jar as a GitHub Release asset
   • Optionally publish to Maven Central via OSSRH (separate GPG/credentials work)
3. Update MobilitySpark/libs/JMEOS-1.4.jar consumption to either pull from the GitHub Release (curl/wget in CI) or migrate to a Maven Central <dependency> once published.

Out-of-scope-for-this-issue companion

The hs_err_pid17967.log JVM-crash binary that PR #8 also brought in (flagged in MobilitySpark issue #1) belongs in the same hygiene sweep. Worth removing in the same PR.

Leaving open as the actionable, scoped follow-up to PR #15.