How to include dependency with 'provided' scope with maven-assembly-plugin

Question

I am fighting with maven to include a managed dependency with 'provided' scope into tar file by using the maven-assembly-plugin.

I use super parent pom file as a base for all of my projects. most of the projects will be deployed under application server so two common dependencies are declared under the super parent pom. below it is the relevant management section from the super parent:

http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>     <groupId>com.xxx.integration</groupId>     <artifactId>super-parent</artifactId>     <packaging>pom</packaging>     <version>1.1.3</version>     <name>super parent</name>     <url>http://maven.apache.org.check</url> . . .     <dependencyManagement>         <dependencies>             <dependency>                 <groupId>junit</groupId>                 <artifactId>junit</artifactId>                 <version>${junit.version}</version>                 <scope>test</scope>             </dependency>             <dependency>                 <groupId>log4j</groupId>                 <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>                 <version>${log4j.version}</version>                 <scope>provided</scope>             </dependency>         </dependencies>     </dependencyManagement> 

log4j.version=2.0.8

in one of the inherited project (which is a standalone application), i am using maven-assembly-plugin with dependencySets in order to include the dependent libraries into a tar file. and of course I want also to include the log4j library.

below is the pom inherited from super parent:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"     xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">     <parent>         <groupId>com.xxx.integration</groupId>         <artifactId>super-parent</artifactId>         <version>1.1.3</version>     </parent>     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>     <artifactId>plugin-cc-checker</artifactId>     <name>plugin-cc-checker</name>     <version>2.1</version>      <build>         <plugins>             <plugin>                 <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>                 <dependencies>                     <dependency>                         <groupId>com.orca.integration</groupId>                         <artifactId>integration-assembly-descriptor</artifactId>                         <version>1.1.1</version>                     </dependency>                 </dependencies>                 <executions>                     <execution>                         <id>make-assembly-according-to-distribution-xml</id>                         <phase>package</phase>                         <goals>                             <goal>single</goal>                         </goals>                         <configuration>                             <finalName>${artifactId}</finalName>                             <!-- This is where we use our shared assembly descriptor -->                             <descriptors>                                 <descriptor>distribution-app.xml</descriptor>                             </descriptors>                         </configuration>                     </execution>                 </executions>             </plugin>         </plugins>     </build>      <dependencies>         <dependency>             <groupId>xerces</groupId>             <artifactId>xerces</artifactId>             <version>${xerces.version}</version>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependency>         <dependency>             <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>             <artifactId>commons-logging-api</artifactId>             <version>${commons-logging-api.version}</version>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependency>         <dependency>             <groupId>excalibur</groupId>             <artifactId>excalibur-i18n</artifactId>             <version>${excalibur-i18n.version}</version>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependency>         <dependency>             <groupId>org.snmp4j</groupId>             <artifactId>snmp4j</artifactId>             <version>${snmp4j.version}</version>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependency>         <dependency>             <groupId>log4j</groupId>             <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependency>     </dependencies> </project> 

the distribution-app.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <assembly>     <!-- Add module dependencies and the jar that is created in the packaging          phase. Product name will be <project name>-app-<version no>.tar -->     <id>app-${version}</id>     <formats>         <format>tar</format>     </formats>     <includeBaseDirectory>false</includeBaseDirectory>     <fileSets>         <fileSet>             <directory>resources/app</directory>             <outputDirectory>/</outputDirectory>         </fileSet>     </fileSets>     <dependencySets>         <dependencySet>             <outputDirectory>/lib</outputDirectory>             <excludes>                 <!-- Since there is a bug in xalan 2.7.1 all applications required to                      use xalan-orca jar file -->                 <exclude>xalan:xalan</exclude>             </excludes>             <!-- includes> <include>*</include> </includes-->         </dependencySet>     </dependencySets>     <moduleSets>         <moduleSet>             <binaries>                 <outputDirectory>/guy</outputDirectory>                 <includes>                     <include>log4j:log4j</include>                 </includes>             </binaries>         </moduleSet>     </moduleSets> </assembly> 

Why maven-assembly-plugin refuse to include the log4j into the tar file? PS, trying to change scope to compile didn't work as well. I can'r change the declaration in the super parent pom.

Answer 1

This can be done using the Assembly plugin.

First create an assembly.xml with the following:

<assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"     xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd">     <id>bin</id>     <formats>         <format>jar</format>     </formats>     <includeBaseDirectory>false</includeBaseDirectory>     <dependencySets>         <dependencySet>             <unpack>true</unpack>             <scope>runtime</scope>         </dependencySet>         <dependencySet>             <unpack>true</unpack>             <scope>provided</scope>         </dependencySet>     </dependencySets> </assembly> 

Then just enable it in your pom.xml

<plugin>     <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>     <version>2.4</version>     <configuration>         <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assembly.xml</descriptor>     </configuration>     <executions>         <execution>             <id>make-assembly</id>             <phase>package</phase>             <goals>                 <goal>single</goal>             </goals>         </execution>     </executions> </plugin> 

This will create a yourproject-bin.jar that will include all the compile and provided resources exploded so they can be referenced in a classpath.

java -cp yourproject-bin.jar com.yourcompany.Main 

Answer 2

it is not possible to override the 'provided' scope in maven.

To solve this issue, I declared a variable in the parent pom that will define the artifact scope. In order to override the scope the only thing that has to be done, is to set new value for the variable in the inherited pom.

See example below:

parent pom:

    <properties>             <log4j.version>1.2.8</log4j.version>             <log4j.scope>provided</log4j.scope>     </properties> . . .     <dependencyManagement>         <dependencies>             <dependency>                 <groupId>log4j</groupId>                 <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>                 <version>${log4j.version}</version>                 <scope>${log4j.scope}</scope>             </dependency>         </dependencies>     </dependencyManagement> 

Now in the child pom, just declare the variable again:

<properties>         <log4j.scope>runtime</log4j.scope> </properties>