Run mvn exec:exec without a pom.xml

Question

I am trying to find a way just to fetch a library from maven repository and run it. I want to define everything by command line and ignore the pom. I am trying following:

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Answer 1

Nope. It's impossible. Mvn Exec is, in fact, Maven Pluging dedicated to execute something as part of maven-nature project. If you need to execute Jar outcome why not use just java ***.jar ?

Answer 2

One possible workaround would be to:

• first get the jar
• then execute it

For that, the maven plugin dependency:get is handy, and can be executed without any pom.xml/project (so from any folder you want)

mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-dependency-plugin:2.1:get -DrepoUrl=https://dtp.intramundi.com/nexus/repository/maven-central/ -Dartifact=<group>:<artifact>:<version>

Once you have copied the artifact to the folder of your choice, a plugin like dependency:copy-dependencies could, reading the pom.xml of the artifact you just got, copy said dependencies to the same folder of your choice.

Finally, a java -cp . yourArtifact.jar can execute it.

I realize this is not as straightforward as just "exec:exec", and that it fetches dependencies from the pom.xml, but here at least:

• the first step does not require any pom.xml,
• the second step needs the pom.xml of the very artifact you want to execute, and those dependencies might be needed at runtime: you would need those anyway if you want to 'exec' your artifact.