Been thinking about this a little more. The TLDR version: I am suggesting that we provide more information and place a stricter syntax requirement of the POM *generated* by the build. This allows the generated POM to be a clear contract between the deployed artifact and it's consumers, regardless of which build system is consuming the artifact.
... Our problem: POMs provided by the Android support repo contain dependencies that have no type information which is syntactically valid. But the dependencies are assumed to be 'aar' resources by Gradle but not by Maven. We need the correct type information to be provided with the dependency. We don't actually need the *source* POM syntax to change to require types to be specified for all dependencies. We would just need the POM that is generated as part of the build (ie output POM) include type for each dependency. For Maven this would mean adding a type of 'jar' for any missing types into the generated POM. In our use case this would mean that the POMs being generated by the Android team could be identified as being invalid as they are missing type information. And the Android team were to fix them up and include type information then they would include the correct type info 'aar' and we could build our projects without needing to manually hack 2 dozen POMs they are providing. It would also allow us to confirm that the generated POM is valid during - dependency consumption - deployment to Maven central @Jason where is the generated POM (think you had another name for it) concept at? Does this suggestion fit in with your thoughts on it? William ᐧ On Sat, Dec 20, 2014 at 11:59 AM, William Ferguson < william.fergu...@xandar.com.au> wrote: > It's not the repository layout that Google is not honouring. It's the > semantics of the unspecified dependency type in the POMs in that repository. > If the POM syntax were changed to require that deps had a type then Maven > itself could fail the build because it could determine that the inputs were > invalid. > And yes, this wouldn't stop Google from publishing a POM that had > incorrect dependency types (eg explicitly specifying jar type when no such > artifact exists), but at that point it is an explicit choice during > construction and it is clear where the fault lies. > > > NB this is all caused by a bug in Gradle > http://forums.gradle.org/gradle/topics/missing-in-deployed-pom-files-if-different-than-jar-artifact-is-used > Here is the report against AOSP > https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=72807 > > While this isn't a bug in Maven, Maven owns the POM format. By not placing > stricter controls around the ecosystem we are letting that ecosystem > deteriorate. I don't want to see Maven slide into oblivion because new > tools/processes are pissing into the common pot. > > At the very least it would help if the community starred the Gradle issue > to try to get them to fix their problem. > > > [image: photo] > *William Ferguson* > Founder and CEO, XandarMob > m:+61 425 716 870 <+61%20425%20716%20870> | e: > william.fergu...@xandar.com.au | w:https://wylas-timing.com > http://lexathon.com > ᐧ > > On Sat, Dec 20, 2014 at 9:13 AM, Igor Fedorenko <i...@ifedorenko.com> > wrote: >> >> On 2014-12-19, 17:40, William Ferguson wrote: >> >>> I'd love to go the first route, but unfortunately Google is only making >>> the >>> Android libraries available via a repository that is downloaded (and >>> updated) via the Android SDK. So they are not visible on Maven Central >>> and >>> Maven Central obviously couldn't vet them. >>> >> >> If Google deploys these artifacts to a separate repository and does not >> honour current Maven repository layout, why do you think they will treat >> the new layout differently? >> >> >>> The second option would work, but I'd argue that it lends itself to >>> convention clouding the expected behaviour as you'd need a map to know >>> how >>> each packaging type impacted the behaviour of unspecified dependency >>> types. >>> UNLESS the convention was that all dependencies with no type information >>> get the packaging type of their project. But this would massively break >>> existing build (think of all the war POMs). >>> >>> >> No, I didn't mean to use project packaging type as default type for all >> dependencies. I meant to associate default dependency type with project >> packaging type. Packaging type, or, rather, build extension that defines >> the packaging type, can provide the default value. Theoretically, Maven >> could use components from the build extensions to during dependency >> resolution. >> >> Another option, if all these funny artifacts come from the same >> repository, you may be able to do implement custom repository layout to >> do the mapping. Or the mapping can be done with a script and "fixed" >> artifacts provided from another repository. >> >> -- >> Regards, >> Igor >> >> >> >>> [image: photo] >>> *William Ferguson* >>> Founder and CEO, XandarMob >>> m:+61 425 716 870 | e:william.fergu...@xandar.com.au | >>> w:https://wylas-timing.com >>> http://lexathon.com <http://wylas-timing.com http://lexathon.com> >>> >>> ᐧ >>> >>> On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 10:54 PM, Igor Fedorenko <i...@ifedorenko.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Ok, I understand the problem now, but I don't think forcing everything >>>> to explicitly state dependency type is the right solution here. >>>> "Convention over configuration" is one of fundamental Maven principals, >>>> and by convention dependencies are assumed to have type=jar. >>>> >>>> I see two possible ways to improve here. >>>> >>>> I think Maven Central can be more strict about artifacts it accepts. It >>>> should not be too difficult to validate all dependencies are present in >>>> Central, for example, or present in Central or <repositories> configured >>>> in pom.xml. >>>> >>>> Alternatively, we can also extend Maven to support different conventions >>>> for different packaging types. This will be much more work and I didn't >>>> think about implications of this change, but, in theory, it should be >>>> possible to assume dependencies of artifacts with packaging=aar use >>>> dependency type=aar by default. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Regards, >>>> Igor >>>> >>>> >>>> On 2014-12-17, 17:20, William Ferguson wrote: >>>> >>>> Sorry Igor, I see now I omitted a chunk of context. >>>>> >>>>> The reason for the error is that this component : >>>>> >>>>> <dependency> >>>>> <groupId>com.android.support</groupId> >>>>> <artifactId>support-v13</artifactId> >>>>> <version>21.0.2</version> >>>>> <type>aar</type> >>>>> </dependency> >>>>> >>>>> has a dependency upon >>>>> >>>>> <dependency> >>>>> <groupId>com.android.support</groupId> >>>>> <artifactId>support-v4</artifactId> >>>>> <version>21.0.2</version> >>>>> <type>aar</type> >>>>> </dependency> >>>>> >>>>> But when the Android team packaged up support-v13, they declared the >>>>> dependency on support-v4 as: >>>>> <dependency> >>>>> <groupId>com.android.support</groupId> >>>>> <artifactId>support-v4</artifactId> >>>>> <version>21.0.2</version> >>>>> </dependency> >>>>> >>>>> which is a valid definition syntactically, may well be valid inside the >>>>> Android dev team, and is parsed by the Android Gradle plugin (which >>>>> makes >>>>> gross assumptions about artifact type). >>>>> >>>>> But from a standard Maven perspective, that dependency definition is >>>>> not >>>>> valid. Which is why tools like the dependency-plugin (and anything that >>>>> introspects deps) with fail with that dependency definition. >>>>> >>>>> We are pushing back on the Android guys to generate Maven POMs that are >>>>> consumable by everyone, but the fact that the syntax allows them to >>>>> generate an underspecified dependency could be eliminated. I think >>>>> this is >>>>> especially important as Maven is used by a wider and wider community. >>>>> While >>>>> it stemmed from Java builds, it is now used much more widely than pure >>>>> Java >>>>> libraries. >>>>> >>>>> William >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ᐧ >>>>> >>>>> On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 2:39 AM, Igor Fedorenko <i...@ifedorenko.com> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> I am not sure I follow. Can you explain what actually happens and how >>>>>> forcing <type> element for all projects dependencies is expected to >>>>>> help >>>>>> the problem? >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Regards, >>>>>> Igor >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On 2014-12-07, 19:25, William Ferguson wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> ## Cross posting to Maven Dev list >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> One solution to this would be to change the POM specification to >>>>>>> require >>>>>>> the type element for dependencies. >>>>>>> That would allow Maven and MavenCentral to immediately fail POMs >>>>>>> based >>>>>>> upon dependencies that are missing the type element. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Yes, it goes against convention over configuration, but Maven is now >>>>>>> used by many more build types than just plain Java builds so maybe we >>>>>>> need to consider that the convention is no longer to assume jar >>>>>>> dependencies. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I would rather require a little more configuration to ensure that >>>>>>> builds >>>>>>> are more deterministic. >>>>>>> If we want to shrink the size of the POM then the new POM format is a >>>>>>> better solution. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> William >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Thursday, December 4, 2014 1:47:33 AM UTC+10, Andreas Schildbach >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I'm using maven-android-plugin 4.0.0 with Maven 3.0.5. I've got >>>>>>> troubles declaring an aar dependency. Here is the pom.xml >>>>>>> declaration: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> | >>>>>>> <dependency> >>>>>>> <groupId>com.android.support</groupId> >>>>>>> <artifactId>support-v13</artifactId> >>>>>>> <version>21.0.2</version> >>>>>>> <type>aar</type> >>>>>>> </dependency> >>>>>>> | >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Just about any Maven command, even "mvn dependency:tree" >>>>>>> yields: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> [ERROR] Failed to execute goal on project wallet: Could not >>>>>>> resolve >>>>>>> dependencies for project de.schildbach.wallet:wallet: >>>>>>> apk:4.13-test: >>>>>>> Failure to find com.android.support:support-v4:jar:21.0.2 in >>>>>>> file:///home/aschildbach/dev/android-sdk/extras/android/ >>>>>>> m2repository >>>>>>> was cached in the local repository, resolution will not be >>>>>>> reattempted until the update interval of android-support has >>>>>>> elapsed >>>>>>> or updates are forced -> [Help 1] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Where does that .jar type in the error message stem from? I >>>>>>> declared >>>>>>> aar. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>>>> --------- >>>>>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@maven.apache.org >>>>>>> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@maven.apache.org >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>>>> --------- >>>>>>> >>>>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@maven.apache.org >>>>>> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@maven.apache.org >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@maven.apache.org >>>> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@maven.apache.org >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@maven.apache.org >> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@maven.apache.org >> >>