How to copy dependencies jars (without test jars) to a directory using maven?

Question

I see maven-dependency-plugin does this; however, it seems to copy everything (including test jars) to the destination directory. Anyone know how to configure this plugin to exclude test jars?

score 40 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 02 '15 at 09:37

Mike answered their own question in a comment above. I think Mike's use case is similar to mine where I want to copy all of the jars I depend upon as well as my own jar in order to create a directory hierarchy sufficient to execute the program without including those dependencies directly into my own jar.

The answer to achieve this is:

<includeScope>compile</includeScope>

This directive goes into the section of the pom.xml for the maven-dependency plugin. For example:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.4</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>copy-dependencies</id>
            <phase>prepare-package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/lib</outputDirectory>
                <includeScope>compile</includeScope>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

excludeScope won't work because excluding test aborts the build and excludes all possible scopes. Instead the included scope needs to be adjusted.

Using `runtime` may be better yet, as it copies compile and runtime dependencies. For instance, if you use SLF4J logging, then the `slf4j-api` would be a compile time dependency, whereas the bridges (`jcl-over-slf4j`, `jul-to-slf4j`) and the backend (e.g. `slf4j-log4j12`) would be runtime dependencies. — zwets, May 11 '17 at 11:05
Just a note that you can pass this on the command-line too (just like excludeScope): `mvn clean dependency:copy-dependencies -DincludeScope=runtime` — lmsurprenant, Aug 13 '19 at 17:38

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 29 '11 at 12:37

24

It is not clear if you wanted to exclude jars with test scope or test related jars (test classifier). In either case, there are two properties of dependency:copy-dependencies which can help you.

excludeClassifiers Comma Separated list of Classifiers to exclude. Empty String indicates don't exclude anything (default).
excludeScope Scope to exclude. An Empty string indicates no scopes (default).

answered Nov 29 '11 at 12:37

Raghuram

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Thanks for the suggestions, i use compile and it works. Thanks. – Mike Nov 29 '11 at 13:59
4

@Raghuram Mike here did raise a point, one cannot exclude scope test. see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5850788/filter-dependencies-copied-by-mavens-copy-dependency – Dudi Jun 23 '14 at 07:49
I am using `` for provided, transitive dependencies don't get copied for the default scope, even though `` is false – Akash Agarwal Oct 23 '17 at 08:51

Maksim Kostromin · Answer 3 · 2020-04-27T10:21:15.853

Documentation says: The scopes being interpreted are the scopes as Maven sees them, not as specified in the pom.

In summary:
  * runtime scope gives runtime and compile dependencies
  * compile scope gives compile, provided, and system dependencies
  * test (default) scope gives all dependencies
  * provided scope just gives provided dependencies
  * system scope just gives system dependencies

According to my experience, if you just wanna run your classes with compile scoped dependencies, specified in project pom.xml file, you must add -DincludeScope=runtime java system setting, like so:

mvn compile dependency:copy-dependencies -DincludeScope=runtime
java -cp "target/dependecy/*:target/classes" com.example.Main args...

Regards

How to copy dependencies jars (without test jars) to a directory using maven?

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