JavaDoc WTF 4MB of Fonts JDK 23+

A developer discovered that starting with JDK 23, the javadoc tool embeds default DejaVu web font files (about 4 MB) into generated API documentation, causing unexpectedly large artifacts. The issue can be resolved by configuring the maven-javadoc-plugin to pass the --no-fonts flag, either via plugin configuration or the -Dmaven.javadoc.disableNoFonts=true property.

I was publishing two small packages to maven central and saw that they added usage tracking. I clicked and noticed 8MB number that should not be caused by 2 tiny packages, it was supposed to be kilobytes. What happened wass that starting in JDK 23, the JDK javadoc tool began embedding default DejaVu web font files ~4 MB into generated API documentation. The maven-javadoc-plugin passes the JDK's --no-fonts flag to disable this. Option 1: Plugin Configuration To disable copying web fonts across builds, set <disableNoFonts false</disableNoFonts or explicitly pass additional arguments if running older toolchains in your pom.xml : <plugin <groupId org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId <artifactId maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId <version 3.11.3</version <configuration < -- Disables font inclusion in JDK 23+ -- <additionalOptions <additionalOption --no-fonts</additionalOption </additionalOptions </configuration </plugin Option 2: Property Switch or Maven Property You can also control this property directly via the Maven property or command-line flag without modifying your execution configuration: mvn clean javadoc:javadoc -Dmaven.javadoc.disableNoFonts=true JDK Compatibility Note:The --no-fonts option was introduced inJDK 23. If you use JDK 21 or earlier, explicitly passing --no-fonts will cause the JDK javadoc executable to throw an unrecognized option error.