Exclude all transitive dependencies of a single dependency
Maven 2DependenciesMaven 2 Problem Overview
In Maven2, to exclude a single transitive dependency, I have to do something like this:
<dependency>
<groupId>sample.group</groupId>
<artifactId>sample-artifactB</artifactId>
<version>1</version>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>sample.group</groupId>
<artifactId>sample-artifactAB</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
The problem with this approach is that I have to do this for every transitive dependency contributed by sample-artifactB.
Is there a way to use some sort of wildcard to exclude all transitive dependencies at once instead of one-by-one?
Maven 2 Solutions
Solution 1 - Maven 2
What has worked for me (may be a newer feature of Maven) is merely doing wildcards in the exclusion element.
I have a multi-module project that contains an "app" module that is referenced in two WAR-packaged modules. One of those WAR-packaged modules really only needs the domain classes (and I haven't separated them out of the app module yet). I found this to work:
<dependency>
<groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
<artifactId>app</artifactId>
<version>${project.version}</version>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>*</groupId>
<artifactId>*</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
The wildcard on both groupId and artifactId exclude all dependencies that normally would propagate through to the module using this dependency.
Solution 2 - Maven 2
For maven2 there isn't a way to do what you describe. For maven 3, there is. If you are using maven 3 please see another answer for this question
For maven 2 I'd recommend creating your own custom pom for the dependency that has your <exclusions>. For projects that need to use that dependency, set the dependency to your custom pom instead of the typical artifact. While that does not necessarily allow you exclude all transitive dependencies with a single <exclusion>, it does allow you only have to write your dependency once and all of your projects don't need to maintain unnecessary and long exclusion lists.
Solution 3 - Maven 2
One thing I have found useful:
If you put the dependency with the exclusions in the dependencyManagement section of either the parent POM for your project, or in an importable dependency management POM, then you don't need to repeat the exclusion (or the version).
For example, if your parent POM has:
<dependencyManagement>
<dependencies>
...
<dependency>
<groupId>commons-fileupload</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-fileupload</artifactId>
<version>1.2.1</version>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
....
</dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>
Then the modules in your project can simply declare the dependency as:
<dependency>
<groupId>commons-fileupload</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-fileupload</artifactId>
</dependency>
The
Solution 4 - Maven 2
Three years ago I recommended using Version 99 Does Not Exist, but now I've figured out a better way, especially since Version 99 is offline:
In your project's parent POM, use maven-enforcer-plugin to fail the build if the unwanted dependency creeps into the build. This can be done using the plugin's banned dependencies rule:
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.0.1</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>only-junit-dep-is-used</id>
<goals>
<goal>enforce</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<rules>
<bannedDependencies>
<excludes>
<exclude>junit:junit</exclude>
</excludes>
</bannedDependencies>
</rules>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
Then when that alerts you about an unwanted dependency, exclude it in the parent POM's <dependencyManagement> section:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.batch</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-batch-test</artifactId>
<version>2.1.8.RELEASE</version>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
This way the unwanted dependency won't show up accidentally (unlike just an <exclusion> which is easy to forget), it won't be available even during compile time (unlike provided scope), there are no bogus dependencies (unlike Version 99) and it'll work without a custom repository (unlike Version 99). This approach will even work based on the artifact's version, classifiers, scope or a whole groupId - see the documentation for details.
Solution 5 - Maven 2
I use the following workaround : instead of trying to exclude the artifact in all appropriate dependencies, I draw the dependency as "provided" at top level. For example, to avoid shipping xml-apis "whatever version" :
<dependency>
<groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
<artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
<version>[1.0,]</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
Solution 6 - Maven 2
Currently, there's no way to exclude more than one transitive dependency at a time, but there is a feature request for this on the Maven JIRA site:
Solution 7 - Maven 2
There is a workaround for this, if you set the scope of a dependency to runtime, transitive dependencies will be excluded. Though be aware this means you need to add in additional processing if you want to package the runtime dependency.
To include the runtime dependency in any packaging, you can use the maven-dependency-plugin's copy goal for a specific artifact.
Solution 8 - Maven 2
if you need to exclude all transitive dependencies from a dependency artifact that you are going to include in an assembly, you can specify this in the descriptor for the assembly-plugin:
<assembly>
<id>myApp</id>
<formats>
<format>zip</format>
</formats>
<dependencySets>
<dependencySet>
<useTransitiveDependencies>false</useTransitiveDependencies>
<includes><include>*:struts2-spring-plugin:jar:2.1.6</include></includes>
</dependencySet>
</dependencySets>
</assembly>
Solution 9 - Maven 2
If you develop under Eclipse, you can in the POM Editor (advanced tabs enabled) dependency graph look for the dependency you want to exclude of your project and then:
right click on it -> "Exclude Maven Artifact ..." and Eclipse will make the exclusion for you without the need to find out on which dependency the lib is linked.
Solution 10 - Maven 2
What is your reason for excluding all transitive dependencies?
If there is a particular artifact (such as commons-logging) which you need to exclude from every dependency, the Version 99 Does Not Exist approach might help.
Update 2012: Don't use this approach. Use maven-enforcer-plugin and exclusions. Version 99 produces bogus dependencies and the Version 99 repository is offline (there are similar mirrors but you can't rely on them to stay online forever either; it's best to use only Maven Central).
Solution 11 - Maven 2
In a simular issue I had the desired dependency declared with scope provided. With this approach the transitive dependencies are fetched but are NOT included in the package phase, which is what you want. I also like this solution in terms of maintenance, because there is no pom, or custom pom as in whaley's solution, needed to maintain; you only need to provide the specific dependency in the container and be done
Solution 12 - Maven 2
Use the latest maven in your classpath.. It will remove the duplicate artifacts and keep the latest maven artifact..