Multi module project with spring boot

Question

I am creating a project with spring-boot.

Spring boot maven structure mandates that it has a parent defined to spring-boot-starter-parent.

I have a situation where I would like to package my application as a multi-module structure where I define modules which contain functionality related to a geography.

Something like this, each module has a jar packaging,

parent Pom
|
|-----------Core module
|
|-----------India Module
|
|----------Africa Module
|
|--------- Europe Module

Now, I can package my application depending on geography using maven profiles where in India profile only core module and India module are included and packaged.

How can I achieve it using spring boot where my parent is already defined to spring-boot-starter-parent?

Answer 1

There are two ways one can do it,

1. use dependencyManagement in your parent pom as in

    <dependencyManagement>
       <dependencies>
          <dependency>
           <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
           <artifactId>spring-boot-dependencies</artifactId>
           <type>pom</type>
           <version>1.2.3.RELEASE</version>
           <scope>import</scope>
       </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   

2. This is the way I am doing it. The root POM (with pom packaging) has spring boot as parent

   <parent>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
      <version>1.2.3.RELEASE</version>
   </parent> 
   

the module poms have root pom as parent. The core module POM adds has dependency on other modules. It also has 'spring-boot-maven-plugin' to create the fat jar.

The spring context is started with java -jar Core_xxx.release.jar

Off course if you have organization wise parent POM then first option would be more appropriate.

Answer 2

Right now you can solve that problem using official Spring guidline and create Spring Boot Multi-Module project. Just follow the instruction https://spring.io/guides/gs/multi-module/