Configuration, upload and dependencies in gradle project - maven

Question

I am having a problem building some interdependent modules in a gradle based project. What I want to be able to do is have a project (similar to some maven projects I have worked with), where the dependencies are on each others versions, so when deployed to a maven repository, are available, but building a module builds the dependencies.
To illustrate, I have a gradle project with a few submodules.
ProjectA
|- module-a
\- module-b (depends on module-a)
In module b, I specify the dependency using compile "{groupId:module-b:{versionName}, and in the project root build.gradle, I have
project(':module-b') {
dependencies {
compile project(':module-a')
}
}
Another project with a dependency on the other project.
ProjectB
\- module-c (depends on module-b)
When building ProjectB, there are errors about not being able to find ProjectA:module-a:unspecified. The pom generated for module-b does include that dependency.
If I remove the dependency specification in ProjectA's root build.gradle, when I try and build, module-b cannot find module-a (during the dependency resolution phase). module-a would not be deployed anywhere yet, so this makes sense to me.
I would like module-b to depend on it's sibling, but have it's pom show a maven-style version dependency, so that module-c can depend on module-b and transitively get module-a.
(There is no requirement that ProjectB be a gradle project. Either maven or gradle should work.)
Gradle configuration files
settings.gradle
include 'module-a', 'module-b'
build.gradle
project(':module-b') {
apply plugin: 'java'
dependencies {
compile project(':module-a')
}
}
module-a/build.gradle
group 'com.example.coatedmoose'
version '1.0.0-SNAPSHOT'
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'maven'
uploadArchives {
repositories {
mavenDeployer {
mavenLocal()
}
}
}
module-b/build.gradle
group 'com.example.coatedmoose'
version '1.0.0-SNAPSHOT'
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'maven'
dependencies {
compile 'com.example.coatedmoose:module-a:1.0.0-SNAPSHOT'
}
uploadArchives {
repositories {
mavenDeployer {
mavenLocal()
}
}
}