Maven: Plugin to download dependency source from github?

Question

I have a build that depends on com.odiago.avro:odiago-avro:jar:1.0.5, which I've been unable to find prebuilt in any repository.

The source is available on github. Is there a maven plugin I can use to get maven to download and build the dependency, or will I need to manually download and install it?

Answer 1

I don't think there is such a plugin, but I'd say that even if there were it'd probably serve you better to download the source (using a stable tag), build it yourself, and install it into your local repository (mvn install). Few reasons:

1. building the 3rd party project is a one-time thing - unless it's something that needs to be repeated as part of your build, there's no gain in having it as part of your maven script. It'll just slow the build down.
2. the library might change under your feet.