Declare dependency in section even if dependency not used everywhere?

Question

We\'re using maven 2.1.0. I have multiple modules that are completely separate, but still have many common dependencies. Like log4J, but some modules don\'t need it. I am wond

Answer 1

Each module should have its own POM and where it declares its own dependencies. This not only tracks external dependencies, but also internal ones.

When you use Maven to build a project it will sort the whole lot out. So if many modules (perhaps all) depend on log4j, then it will only be included once. There are some problems if your modules depend on different versions of log4j but this approach usually works fine.

It is also useful (if there are more than 1-2 developers working together) to set up an internal repository (like Artifactory) and use that internally. It makes it much easier to deal with libraries that are not in the public repos (just add it to your internal repo!) and you can also use build tools to push builds of your own code there so other can use the modules without checking out the code (useful in larger projects)