Ivy Resolves Dependencies In Other Configurations

Question

I'm having trouble retrieving the dependencies I expect by configuration name. I have a shared library I'm publishing to a local repository, using the following ivy file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ivy-module version="2.0">
    <info organisation="my.org" module="my-stuff" status="release"/>
    <configurations>
        <conf name="runtime"/>
        <conf name="provided" extends="runtime"/>
        <conf name="test"     extends="provided"/>
    </configurations>
    <publications>
        <artifact name="my-stuff" type="jar"    ext="jar" conf="*"/>
        <artifact name="my-stuff" type="source" ext="zip" conf="*"/>
    </publications>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency org="javax.servlet"     name="servlet-api" rev="2.4"    conf="provided,test -> master"/>
        <dependency org="org.apache.tomcat" name="tomcat-dbcp" rev="7.0.47" conf="provided,test -> master"/>
        <dependency org="log4j"             name="log4j"       rev="1.2.17" conf="* -> master"/>
        <dependency org="my.org"            name="my-module"   rev="1.2.3"  conf="* -> default"/>
        <dependency org="junit"             name="junit"       rev="4.5"    conf="provided,test -> master"/>
        <dependency org="org.apache.ant"    name="ant"         rev="1.8.4"  conf="provided,test -> master"/>
    </dependencies>
</ivy-module>

So far, so good. I publish the my-stuff jar, and if I try to retrieve its dependencies by configuration, I get what I expect, two dependencies in the runtime configuration, and six each in the provided and test configurations. The trouble starts when I try to retrieve dependencies of something that depends on my-stuff. I use this ivy file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ivy-module version="2.0">
    <info organisation="my.org" module="test-my-stuff" status="release"/>
    <configurations>
        <conf name="runtime"/>
        <conf name="provided" extends="runtime"/>
        <conf name="test" extends="provided"/>
    </configurations>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency org="my.org" name="my-stuff" rev="1.1"/>
    </dependencies>
</ivy-module>

Now if I try to retrieve the runtime configuration, instead of getting the my-stuff jar, log4j and my-module, I get twelve jars, including activation.jar and mail.jar, things I don't get when I use the first ivy file to retrieve. Why is my second ivy file pulling everything into the runtime configuration? What exactly am I doing wrong?

If, on the other hand, I add a configuration mapping to the dependency in the second file, such as runtime->runtime;provided->provided;test->test, resolve will fail, claiming it can't find my-stuff.

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-03T05:52:36

I think your issue is how you declared the configuration of the published artifacts:

<publications>
    <artifact name="my-stuff" type="jar"    ext="jar" conf="*"/>
    <artifact name="my-stuff" type="source" ext="zip" conf="*"/>
</publications>

You're basically saying they should be part of the "runtime", "provided" and "test" configurations. Additionally because the 3 configurations are nested, something in "runtime" will automatically be part of "provided" and "test" as well.

So I suggest restructuring your ivy file as follows:

<configurations>
    <conf name="default" extends="runtime,master"/>
    <conf name="master"/>
    <conf name="sources"/>
    <conf name="provided"/>
    <conf name="runtime"/>
    <conf name="test" extends="runtime"/>
</configurations>
<publications>
    <artifact name="my-stuff" type="jar"    ext="jar" conf="master"/>
    <artifact name="my-stuff" type="source" ext="zip" conf="sources"/>
</publications>

Notes:

The main artefact is on a standalone "master" configuration that also gets included on the "default" configuration
Additional configuration for "sources". Keeps it isolated from runtime and allows it to be downloaded explicitly
"provided" scope is stand-alone. This is important as you do not want it to be accidentally packaged in a war file.

A dependency declaration should now work, but always a good idea to provide an explicit configuration mapping, in this case to our new "default" configuration:

<dependency org="my.org" name="my-stuff" rev="1.1" conf="runtime->default"/>

Ivy Resolves Dependencies In Other Configurations

1 Answers