CODEWITHSUNDEEP
mavenjardependencies
BambooleanLogic
BambooleanLogic

Reputation: 8171

Multiple Maven modules with dependency on a JAR

In my multi-module Maven project, suppose I have two modules, car and horse. They both depend on a JAR file, transport.jar, a file not available in any online Maven repositories. As such, I need to find a way to make these modules depend on a file found somewhere in the project folder structure.

From what I understand, the default Maven solution would be to manually register the JAR file in the local repository. While this would work on a development machine, it breaks on the build server, which clears its local repository before each build.

I've been searching online on how to do this on and off for a while and found some helpful things, but nothing that completely works.

For instance, a common answer is to add a dependency to the file using <scope>system</scope>. However, not only do others claim that it's extremely bad practice to do so, it also doesn't work on the build server. (On a side note, I would also like to point out that using absolute paths to the JAR is also out of the question due to, again, it being built on several different machines.)

A more useful method I found was to define a local repository in the POM file, pointing towards the path file:${project.basedir}/lib. (Such as in this article) Unfortunately, if I place the JAR and repository definition in the car POM, I cannot successfully add a dependency to the JAR in horse. I've tried both with and without an additional reference to car in horse, as well as defining a second repository in horse, pointing to file:${project.basedir}/../car/lib. This problem would also remain if I tried to make a third module, transport-lib, specifically for wrapping the JAR dependency.

I could most likely add the JAR file to both modules and define two separate module-local repositories, but I really don't want to unless I have to due to the need to keep the two (often updated) JARs in sync etc.

So, my question is as follows: Can someone give me a confirmed-to-work method to have two modules depend on the same JAR file inside the project, given the parameters and restrictions mentioned?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 190

Answers (1)

khmarbaise
khmarbaise

Reputation: 97547

Best solution is to use a repository manager like Archiva, Artifactory or Nexus and install that artifact into the repository manager. Afterwards you can use this artifact directly in your pom files without any issue.

Don't use the scope system, cause it will cause other problem after a release for other etc.

Upvotes: 2

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