Why is it not recommended to define maven artifact repository URL in pom file? (Azure context, artifact source) - maven

My team is migrating our code to an Azure environment and Microsoft's own article on the subject describes how to use Maven in an Azure environment:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/java/labs/mavenpmvsts/?view=vsts
One of Maven's best practices is to avoid defining repository elements within the pom file and use a repository manager configured within the settings.xml instead.
The Microsoft article instructs otherwise: they say to add the repository url right in the pom file.
I would have been okay with it if the repository element was defined only in the distributionManagement section, but that is not the case. The article defines the url in a repositories element outside of the distribution context.
My understanding of the repository element of the pom.xml file is that it overrides the source of artifacts used for fetching dependencies. The problem I see defining this in the pom file is that it could have adverse effects depending how the library is being reused.
Use case example:
1) Shared library is created with repository url defined in pom
2) Shared library is deployed. POM file containing url and JAR file are published.
3) Artifact repository is moved, renamed or copied, url is changed.
4) Later on, a new application using that shared library is created, but uses the new repository url. The URL in the application pom is now different from the one in the shared library's previously published pom.
Because Maven uses a dependency graph and inheritance, what I would expect to happen is that when we build the new application:
1) maven will read the application pom file and begin exploring the dependency graph by downloading pom files for each of the application's dependencies from the URL found in the application's pom. In this case, the only download is the shared library's pom.
2) maven will explore transitive dependencies and read the shared library's pom. Reading the shared library's pom, the repository section will take precedence over the application's pom in the context of the shared library's dependencies. The shared library's dependencies poms would be downloaded from the old URL.
3) maven will continue like that and download all the pom files until the dependency tree has been built.
4) depending on project configuration, maven will go through the graph it built to download the jars and etc using the same rules.
In this use case, maven would download artifacts from both the old source and the new source. If the old source no longer exists or isn't accessible in this build context, the project cannot be built. This is why it's best to avoid setting repository urls in a pom file.
Or so I thought.
I wrote a scripted demo with local repositories to show my team exactly what would happen and to my surprise, even though Maven does download the shared library's pom file containing a different repository url, the repository tag does not seem to be overriding the one from the application being built. Logs show all artifacts being downloaded from the source specified in the "top" application pom.
So my question to Stack Overflow is two fold:
1) Why am I wrong? Did I misunderstand Maven's inheritance, dependency graph building and behavior?
2) Shouldn't Maven download the shared library's dependencies from the url specified in the repository tag, if specified? I'm sure there are some cases where the artifacts must come from a private repo. (ex: org.geotools)
3) Does anyone have experience setting up Maven on Azure? Did you follow Microsoft's guide or found a way to move repository urls to your settings.xml in an Azure environment?

Related

Is it possible to make a maven-repository with a static-website?

Stupide idea but ... is it possible to create a maven repository from a static website?
if I mannualy put pom and jar file on a website with a path similar to the one on any maven repository, then I reference the website as a maven repository from which I try to import dependency, will it work ?
I need it in order to store my snapshot version without publishing them. I don't care of security but I have 0 budget

How to download all available artifacts from a specific repository url in build.gradle

I'm working on a multi-module build which is needed to create an artifact from all WSDLs available on an internal repository. But they are a lot and I don't want to make a list of it, because it might be possible that later another WSDL project is created and needs to be included in the list, if that doesn't happen then the final artifact will be incomplete.
So I need to know if there's any way I can tell gradle to fetch artifacts present on a certain path like domain.com/path/to/repo/wsdls/ and fetch all available artifacts from this path.
I was thinking of creating a configuration which then has this specific repository to download from but it seems configuration does not include a repository and will use defined in build.gradle.
Any way to define a download-everything-pattern in dependencies block?
EDIT: Note: WSDL project means soap services in a zip archive

Where to actually put internal repository URL?

I see several options:
directly in pom.xml
in company super-pom
in settings.xml (global or user)
in a profile or directly (in settings.xml or pom.xml)
We want our Jenkins to push artifacts to internal repository, and developers to pull missing artifacts from there.
If I put the repository URL in pom.xml, and later the internal repository is moved to a different address, the released versions will all have a broken link.
Super-pom saves some repetition, but in a clean setup you need to somehow know where the repository is to find the parent POM — to tell you where the repository is.
Having the URL in settings allows one to change it without modifying the artifacts, but there are two problems:
build will fail due to unresolved dependencies, if maven settings have no reference to the internal repo
developers have to update their settings.xml files manually
I'm also unsure about the merits of putting repository configuration in profiles. I know it let's you easily switch the repositories on and off, but shouldn't the -o option and snapshot resolution settings be enough for most uses?
What about using a different repository (e.g. with instrumented classes) for integration tests?
Configure a single repository in the users ${HOME}/.m2/settings.xml and configure other needed repositories in your appropriate repository manager either Nexus, Artifactory or Archiva. In Jenkins there is the Config File Provider plugin which exactly handles such situations in a very convinient way.
If you want to have repeatable builds and good control over your organization internally, use a repository manager and use a mirrorOf entry in everyone’s settings.xml to point at that url.
If you are exposing your source and want to make it easy for others to
build, then consider adding a repository entry to your POM, but don’t
pick a URL lightly, think long-term, and use a URL that will always be
under your control.
http://blog.sonatype.com/2009/02/why-putting-repositories-in-your-poms-is-a-bad-idea/

intellij idea specify repository for downloading sources

It seems that question can be related to How to automatically attach source code for dependency in Intellij? but it`s not in full manner.
In debug mode I'm getting into decompiled file and idea ask me to download or set the path to sources.
For resolving I'm using some nexus repository which aggregates different vendors public jars (proxy repositories,reuploaded jars and etc). Unfortunately it contains jars but very often it doesn't contain sources or javadocs.
But at the same time vendors' repositories contain sources. After clicking "download" button - I can see that idea try to find sources only in "oss.sonatype.org" repository.
So is any ability to set the list of repositories where Idea can search sources?
IntelliJ will respect your normal Maven configuration. You can define repositories in the actual pom.xml or in your maven user setting under ~/.m2/settings.xml. See https://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-multiple-repositories.html
Check settings of IntelliJ IDEA "Settings-->Maven-->Repositories
There are two sections:
Index Maven Repositories
Artifactory or Nexus Service URLs

Maven repository inheritance and override

I have a Maven project that was built a few years back, and now I need to make some updates. One of the dependencies to my project has a Maven repository listed in its POM that no longer exists. I get build failures now.
I would have thought the repository listings in my POM or Settings.xml would trump any repositories listed in a dependency's POM; or Maven would try my repositories after failing to connect to the extinct repository. Instead, it just bombs out with a build failure.
Additionally, I already have the required dependencies in my local repository. I would have additionally thought that Maven would just use that.
Is there a way to override the inherited repository listings, or tell Maven to carry-on in the case of a repo problem?
If the artifact that you depend on is a snapshot version then maven will check for a new snapshot every time you build, thats why it is a good practice to lock down your dependencies to a released version.
You can "override" the repository declarations by defining a <mirror> in the settings.xml.
See http://maven.apache.org/settings.html#Mirrors
I usually set up a locally hosted repository manager (preferably nexus) and then define mirrorOf(*) = local-repo-manager/url.
Nexus allows multiple repo's to be grouped with a predefined search order.
Nexus repo's can be locally hosted or caching/proxies to public repo's.
I usually have a locally hosted 3rd party repo at the front of the group, where I can store artifacts that are not published on public repo's.

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