dependency:tree
can be used to see the dependency tree for a given project. But what I need is to see the dependency tree for a 3rd party artifact.
I guess I can create an empty project, but I'm looking for something easier (I need to do this for several artifacts).
1) Use maven dependency plugin
Create a simple project with pom.xml only. Add your dependency and run:
mvn dependency:tree
Unfortunately dependency mojo must use pom.xml or you get following error:
Cannot execute mojo: tree. It requires a project with an existing pom.xml, but the build is not using one.
2) Find pom.xml of your artifact in maven central repository
Dependencies are described In pom.xml of your artifact. Find it using maven infrastructure.
Go to http://search.maven.org/ and enter your groupId and artifactId.
Or you can go to http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/ and navigate first using plugins groupId, later using artifactId and finally using its version.
For example see org.springframework:spring-core
3) Use maven dependency plugin against your artifact
Part of dependency artifact is a pom.xml. That specifies it's dependency. And you can execute mvn dependency:tree on this pom.
You can search for an specific artifact using this maven command:
mvn dependency:tree -Dverbose -Dincludes=[groupId]:[artifactId]:[type]:[version]
According to the documentation:
where each pattern segment is optional and supports full and partial * wildcards. An empty pattern segment is treated as an implicit wildcard.
Imagine you are trying to find 'log4j-1.2-api' jar file among different modules of your project:
mvn dependency:tree -Dverbose -Dincludes=org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-1.2-api
more information can be found here.
The solution is to call dependency:tree with the artifact's pom.xml file:
mvn -f "$HOME/.m2/repository/$POM_PATH" dependency:tree
See also How to list the transitive dependencies of an artifact from a repository?
If you use a current version of m2eclipse (which you should if you use eclipse and maven):
Select the menu entry
Navigate -> Open Maven POM
and enter the artifact you are looking for.
The pom will open in the pom editor, from which you can select the tab Dependency Hierarchy
to view the dependency hierarchy (as the name suggests :-) )
If your artifact is not a dependency of a given project, your best bet is to use a repository search engine. Many of them describes the dependencies of a given artifact.
If you'd like to get a graphical, searchable representation of the dependency tree (including all modules from your project, transitive dependencies and eviction information), check out UpdateImpact: https://app.updateimpact.com (free service).
Disclaimer: I'm one of the developers of the site