How do you store third party libraries in your source control?

Question

How do you store third party libraries that you use in your project in your source control?

When would you store binaries in your source control?

When would

Answer 1

I don't put 3rd party source or binaries in SC. My rationale was that I would not have to update SC just to update the libraries. I am starting to regret this though. When I have had to recreate the project I find myself running around looking for the lib sources instead of just syncing to SC.

Answer 2

It depends on how big they are. When binaries or installers are too big, it can cause havoc for remote users. The upside of storing binaries and installers is that everything a developer needs to get up and running is in source control and the versions are correct. If you have a separate installation location, versions can get messed up. So, in general I like to store small or moderate binaries in source control, but larger ones I leave out.

Edit: Oh, and I call mine "BinRef" :)

Answer 3

On a recent Java project I switched to using Maven - this was quite nice since it meant I didn't need to store any third party jars in a lib/ directory. At compile time maven would pull in the dependencies. One nice side affect is the jars have the version number in their filename.

Answer 4

On source code and compiled libraries (most likely standalone):

If I don't use the third party components (compiled libraries) or provided source to build inhouse software components, I simply take them off the shelf and install them as prescribed (which might include a compile, pl/sql code for example). I would not install them in a dependency management repo or any source control system for the simple reason that I don't want them incorporated accidently or otherwise in components I'm building and I don't want to track them in any software cycle. This is an asset (software asset) that should be tracked with other tools. If I'm not using them for software development, I don't and shouldn't see them in tools I use for software development.

If I depend on them for building my own software, I would store them all day long.

Answer 5

If you are using git (which I recommend), and you have the source of the third party library, then storing the library in its own git repository and including it as a submodule is an excellent setup.

• http://book.git-scm.com/5_submodules.html
• http://git-scm.com/docs/git-submodule

If the source library is also using git then you can clone their library and push it to your own server so you'll never lose it.

Git submodules allow you to specify which revision of a library is required for a project, which is great for maintaining compatibility.

Answer 6

My experience has been to create a "lib" folder and keep all 3rd party binaries in there. I will create a totally separate tree for the Source Code to these third parties if it is available.

Some places where this might be different is if you are using an open source vs. a retail 3rd party, with open source solutions I tend to just include the code in my projects and not check-in the binaries.