Can I add jars to maven 2 build classpath without installing them?

Question

Maven2 is driving me crazy during the experimentation / quick and dirty mock-up phase of development.

I have a pom.xml file that defines the dependenc

Answer 1

Using <scope>system</scope> is a terrible idea for reasons explained by others, installing the file manually to your local repository makes the build unreproducible, and using <url>file://${project.basedir}/repo</url> is not a good idea either because (1) that may not be a well-formed file URL (e.g. if the project is checked out in a directory with unusual characters), (2) the result is unusable if this project’s POM is used as a dependency of someone else’s project.

Assuming you are unwilling to upload the artifact to a public repository, Simeon’s suggestion of a helper module does the job. But there is an easier way now…

The Recommendation

Use non-maven-jar-maven-plugin. Does exactly what you were asking for, with none of the drawbacks of the other approaches.

Answer 2

What seems simplest to me is just configure your maven-compiler-plugin to include your custom jars. This example will load any jar files in a lib directory.

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <includes>
                    <include>lib/*.jar</include>
                </includes>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

Answer 3

A quick&dirty batch solution (based on Alex's answer):

libs.bat

@ECHO OFF
FOR %%I IN (*.jar) DO (
echo ^<dependency^>
echo ^<groupId^>local.dummy^</groupId^>
echo ^<artifactId^>%%I^</artifactId^>
echo ^<version^>0.0.1^</version^>
echo ^<scope^>system^</scope^>
echo ^<systemPath^>${project.basedir}/lib/%%I^</systemPath^>
echo ^</dependency^>
)

Execute it like this: libs.bat > libs.txt. Then open libs.txt and copy its content as dependencies.

In my case, I only needed the libraries to compile my code, and this solution was the best for that purpose.

Answer 4

You may create local repository on your project

For example if you have libs folder in project structure

• In libs folder you should create directory structure like: /groupId/artifactId/version/artifactId-version.jar

• In your pom.xml you should register repository

  <repository>
      <id>ProjectRepo</id>
      <name>ProjectRepo</name>
      <url>file://${project.basedir}/libs</url>
  </repository>
  

• and add dependency as usual

  <dependency>
      <groupId>groupId</groupId>
      <artifactId>artifactId</artifactId>
      <version>version</version>
  </dependency>
  

That is all.

For detailed information: How to add external libraries in Maven

Answer 5

To install the 3rd party jar which is not in maven repository use maven-install-plugin.

Below are steps:

1. Download the jar file manually from the source (website)
2. Create a folder and place your jar file in it
3. Run the below command to install the 3rd party jar in your local maven repository

mvn install:install-file -Dfile= -DgroupId= -DartifactId= -Dversion= -Dpackaging=

Below is the e.g one I used it for simonsite log4j

mvn install:install-file -Dfile=/Users/athanka/git/MyProject/repo/log4j-rolling-appender.jar -DgroupId=uk.org.simonsite -DartifactId=log4j-rolling-appender -Dversion=20150607-2059 -Dpackaging=jar

4. In the pom.xml include the dependency as below

     <dependency> 
           <groupId>uk.org.simonsite</groupId>
           <artifactId>log4j-rolling-appender</artifactId>
           <version>20150607-2059</version> 
     </dependency>
   

5. Run the mvn clean install command to create your packaging

Below is the reference link:

https://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-3rd-party-jars-local.html

Answer 6

This is how we add or install a local jar

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.example</groupId>
        <artifactId>iamajar</artifactId>
        <version>1.0</version>
        <scope>system</scope>
        <systemPath>${project.basedir}/lib/iamajar.jar</systemPath>
    </dependency>

i gave some default groupId and artifactId because they are mandatory :)