Can I use a GitHub project directly in Maven?

Question

I am interested in using a project on GitHub as a dependency in my project. The GitHub project has a pom file. Can I modify my pom file to use this project? If so, how? If not, what is my best course of action?

score 150 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 06 '15 at 17:32

150

Try jitpack, you just need to add the dependency, jitpack will build others for you.

From home page:

jitpack
Easy to use package repository for Gradle and Maven projects
JitPack builds GitHub projects on demand and provides ready-to-use packages

HOW

Add repository first

<repository>
    <id>jitpack.io</id>
    <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
</repository>

Add dependency

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.github.User</groupId>
    <artifactId>Repo name</artifactId>
    <version>Release tag</version>
</dependency>

TIPS:

You can see its build log too https://jitpack.io/com/github/NanoHttpd/nanohttpd/Release-2.1.0/build.log

edited Mar 06 '15 at 17:32

Carsten Hagemann

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answered Feb 12 '15 at 17:04

wener

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@james free for public git repositories – metrimer Aug 17 '15 at 10:56
I can't make it work. I am trying com.github.lbehnke hierarchical-clustering-java anyBranch-SNAPSHOT is that right? – Leo Mar 29 '16 at 12:11
Does `jitpack` work for multiple repos in one `pom.xml` ? – WestCoastProjects Oct 11 '17 at 04:48

Dave Newton · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-19T16:36:21.003

29

Not in the way I think you mean, AFAIK.

You can use github as a Maven repository--this is not the same thing as directly referencing a project, and that it has a pom file means only that it's a Maven project.

If the project is not available in the central, or other, repository, your best bet may be to clone it, build it, and install it locally. You should confirm that it's truly not available elsewhere.

edited Sep 19 '12 at 16:36

answered Jan 15 '12 at 16:05

Dave Newton

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Downvoting a once-correct answer may not be the best approach. – Dave Newton May 11 '15 at 21:14
Heroku also provides a nice setp-by-step guide on [adding unmanaged dependencies to a Maven project](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/local-maven-dependencies). – Matheus Santana Dec 03 '15 at 17:52

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 17 '23 at 07:49

@wener's answer is very helpful, but leaves some mystery.

This real example might save some time:

<project ... >
    <repositories>
        <repository>
            <id>jitpack.io</id>
            <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
        </repository>
    </repositories>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>

            <!-- groupId is https://github.com/fabric8io/kubernetes-client -->
            <groupId>com.github.fabric8io.kubernetes-client</groupId>

            <!-- module is a directory within the repo, containing pom.xml -->
            <artifactId>kubernetes-model-generator-client</artifactId>

        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

 . . .

Make sure you are signed into GitHub.

You can also find a tag index page by cutting at the tag within the URL, like https://jitpack.io/com/github/fabric8io/kubernetes-client/. In my example, I figured out if "v" from "v6.4.1" had to be removed or not, since there is a release with the v and a tag without it.

More details: jitpack.io page

Can I use a GitHub project directly in Maven?

3 Answers3

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