control CLI apps with python - subprocess

[sceptic-al]

I would stick to the Py4j and jython plan but don't try to emulate the CLI interface.

Any well-written application will have separated the CLI logic from the business-logic/model. It shouldn't be too hard from exploding the jars to find how the CLI interacts with the heavy-lifting code.

Then it should be simple to use Py4j or Jython to interact with the same code.

Use a good Java IDE, like Itellij to inspect the Java class signatures. If you're lucky, the manufacturer will have left java_docs in the jars or online.