Maven extract jar, compile new with dependencies

Question

I have a 3rd party jar with source files that I've added to my local repo. Now I want to extract it, compile it with it's dependencies, and finally package it into a new single jar.

I've completed the first step, by using the maven-dependency-plugin . It extracts the jar from the repo into target/sources .

How do I set the compiler phase to include that directory during compilation? I would expect it to generate errors at first, since it has other dependencies not in the pom.xml yet.

I've come across the assembly-plugin but I'm not sure if that would replace compiler-plugin?

Answer 1

Q: Why not get the compiled version (the jar, containing the compiled Java code ( *.class files)) of the 3rd party library.

Q: Is the 3rd party, source code available from svn / git / etc?

Q: Does the source jar or the svn / git scm, contain a Maven pom.xml file, or Ant build.xml , or Gradle build.gradle ? Then use that to compile the code.

About the Maven Plug-ins

• The Maven Assembly Plugin , is for creating archive files, like zip , *.tar.gz` etc.
• The Maven Compiler Plugin , is for compiling (Java) source code.