当第三方Java库作为单个jar的集合提供时，将它集成到Maven项目中的最佳方法是什么？

Question

One of the 3rd party libraries used in my company is supplied to us as a zip file with tens of jars in it. The library releases a new version every two weeks, so I am looking for a solution that does not require a lot of manual effort each time a new release is out. I have recently started using Maven for dependency management and I have found it very difficult to deal with this particular 3rd party library. Should I...

1. add each individual jar to a company-internal repository (eg with Nexus) and then declare each one of them as a dependency to any new projects using this library? This is a laborious process and I can't imagine doing this for every new release.

2. create a jar of jars to add to our repository? If so, how do I create it? The Maven shade plugin would require that I mavenise the library first, right?

3. any better suggestions?

Answer 1

Your first option is the best practice. I'm not sure why it should be laborious.

1. create a simple script to upload the various jars to nexus
2. use a property in your pom to specify the third-party version so all deps can be changed with a simple property change in the pom

Should be all of 5 minutes to add a new release to your build pipeline.

Alternative: convince the third-party to setup a maven repository for their customers to use!

Answer 2

Its possible, but complicated (but only a 1 time effort) and probably a misuse of what maven's meant for:

1. Upload zip file to your local maven repo with a specific groupid:artifactId
2. Create a sub-module that has dependency on this zip file. Tis sub module should be used only for creating the uber jar
3. Use maven-dependency-plugin unpack goal to unpack the zip file into a directory
4. Use maven antrun unzip to unzip the jars to a dir
5. Use maven antrun zip to jar the files into a uber jar
6. Use maven-intall-plugin to install uber jar to your local repo and use as a dependency.