How to get a dependency tree for an artifact?

Question

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).

Answer 1

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.