How do I tell Maven to use the latest version of a dependency?

Question

In Maven, dependencies are usually set up like this:

  wonderful-inc         


        

Answer 1

If you want Maven should use the latest version of a dependency, then you can use Versions Maven Plugin and how to use this plugin, Tim has already given a good answer, follow his answer.

But as a developer, I will not recommend this type of practices. WHY?

answer to why is already given by Pascal Thivent in the comment of the question

I really don't recommend this practice (nor using version ranges) for the sake of build reproducibility. A build that starts to suddenly fail for an unknown reason is way more annoying than updating manually a version number.

I will recommend this type of practice:

    3.1.2.RELEASE




    
        org.springframework
        spring-core
        ${spring.version}
    

    
        org.springframework
        spring-context
        ${spring.version}
    

it is easy to maintain and easy to debug. You can update your POM in no time.