How to configure Eclipse build path to use Maven dependencies?

Question

If you right-click on your project, there should be an option under "maven" to "enable dependency management". That's it.

if you execute

mvn eclipse:clean

followed by

mvn eclipse:eclipse

if will prepare the eclipse .classpath file for you. That is, these commands are run against maven from the command line i.e. outside of eclipse.

I'm assuming you are using m2eclipse as you mentioned it. However it is not clear whether you created your project under Eclipse or not so I'll try to cover all cases.

1. If you created a "Java" project under Eclipse (Ctrl+N > Java Project), then right-click the project in the Package Explorer view and go to Maven > Enable Dependency Management (depending on the initial project structure, you may have modify it to match the maven's one, for example by adding src/java to the source folders on the build path).

2. If you created a "Maven Project" under Eclipse (Ctrl+N > Maven Project), then it should be already "Maven ready".

3. If you created a Maven project outside Eclipse (manually or with an archetype), then simply import it in Eclipse (right-click the Package Explorer view and select Import... > Maven Projects) and it will be "Maven ready".

Now, to add a dependency, either right-click the project and select Maven > Add Dependency) or edit the pom manually.

PS: avoid using the maven-eclipse-plugin if you are using m2eclipse. There is absolutely no need for it, it will be confusing, it will generate some mess. No, really, don't use it unless you really know what you are doing.

Add this to .classpath file ..

<classpathentry kind="con" path="org.eclipse.m2e.MAVEN2_CLASSPATH_CONTAINER">
    <attributes>
        <attribute name="maven.pomderived" value="true"/>
    </attributes>
</classpathentry>

Thx