How to include system dependencies in a WAR file built using Maven

If by chance you can't install the third-party library to your local repository, due to some silly naming/packaging checks by the third party, you can still add your system scoped dependencies to your final package at build time (at least if you are building a web application) using the maven-war-plugin where you would need to create a configuration like this:

<plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.2.0</version> <configuration> <failOnMissingWebXml>true</failOnMissingWebXml> <webResources> <resource> <directory>path/to/lib/in/project</directory> <targetPath>WEB-INF/lib</targetPath> </resource> </webResources> </configuration> </plugin> 

I am not sure, but I believe that the library must be somewhere local to the project's base directory. I tend to create a directory under src/main/ called lib to hold these sorts of third-party libraries. During the build process, they are placed in the correct directory and added to the WAR file.

You can configure the WAR plugin to have all or some JAR files included or excluded as per your need as mentioned below. It is simple and works.

<plugin> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.6</version> <configuration> <webResources> <resource> <directory>${project.basedir}\lib</directory> <targetPath>WEB-INF/lib</targetPath> <filtering>false</filtering> <includes> <include>**/*.jar</include> </includes> <excludes> <include>**/javax.servlet-api-3.1.0.jar</include> </excludes> </resource> </webResources> </configuration> </plugin> 

If you meant as JAR file dependencies, then below is a sample pom.xml file which takes all needed files and generates a WAR file:

<build> <defaultGoal>install</defaultGoal> <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/java</sourceDirectory> <testSourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java</testSourceDirectory> <outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/target/classes</outputDirectory> <testOutputDirectory>${project.basedir}/target/test-classes</testOutputDirectory> <resources> <resource> <directory>${project.basedir}/src/main/resources</directory> </resource> </resources> <testResources> <testResource> <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/resources</directory> </testResource> </testResources> <pluginManagement> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.0.2</version> <configuration> <source>1.5</source> <target>1.5</target> <debug>true</debug> </configuration> </plugin> <plugin> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.4</version> <configuration> <includeEmptyDirs>true</includeEmptyDirs> <webResources> <resource> <directory>ui</directory> <targetPath></targetPath> <includes> <include>**</include> </includes> </resource> <resource> <directory>lib</directory> <targetPath>WEB-INF</targetPath> <includes> <include>**/*.xml</include> <include>**/log4j.properties</include> </includes> </resource> // Edited below <resource> <directory>lib</directory> <targetPath>WEB_INF/lib</targetPath> <includes> <include>**/*.jar</include> </includes> </resource> </webResources> <webXml>${project.basedir}/WEB-INF/web.xml</webXml> </configuration> </plugin> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId> <executions> <execution> <id>attach-sources</id> <goals> <goal>jar</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> </pluginManagement> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.3.2</version> <configuration> <source>1.6</source> <target>1.6</target> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </build> 

Based on your initial POM file, I would suggest to send them directly to the WEB-INF/lib directory:

<goals> <goal>copy-dependencies</goal> </goals> <configuration> <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/${project.artifactId}-${project.version}/WEB-INF/lib</outputDirectory> </configuration> 

Use:

mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-install-plugin:2.5.1:install-file \ -Dfile=~/Desktop/medici-1.0.1.jar \ -DgroupId=com.hp \ -DartifactId=medici \ -Dversion=1.0.1 \ -Dpackaging=jar \ -DlocalRepositoryPath=lib 

If all went well, you can find your artifact published inside of lib.

find lib 

Output:

lib lib/com lib/com/hp lib/com/hp/medici lib/com/hp/medici/1.0.1 lib/com/hp/medici/1.0.1/medici-1.0.1.jar lib/com/hp/medici/1.0.1/medici-1.0.1.pom lib/com/hp/medici/maven-metadata-local.xml Note the structure here mimics what you’d find in ~/.m2. 

Now, in your pom.xml file, declare it a Maven repository in your project:

<repositories> <repository> <id>local-repo</id> <url>file://${basedir}/lib</url> </repository> </repositories> 

And lastly, in your pom.xml file, declare a dependency on the local .jar file like you would for any dependency.

<dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>com.hp.medici</groupId> <artifactId>medici</artifactId> <version>1.0.1</version> </dependency> </dependencies> 

It may be problem of the scope where the dependencies are defined:

• compile: Dependencies in "compile" scope will automatically be copied to the target's WEB-INF/lib as part of the Maven build.
• provided: Dependencies in "provided" scope will not be copied (you would use this for server-supplied JAR files such as the JSP-api.jar file).

To generate a WAR file in Maven, two goals have to be run: "compile" and "war:war". Running the WAR goal alone won't compile the Java source. If you prefer, run one of the master goals, such as "package".

If using Eclipse:

Select the POM file in the project explorer and select the "Run" context menu option. This will build and execute a Maven run profile (or use an existing one). Maven run profiles behave just like regular run/debug profiles, except that their profile edit dialogs support Maven-specific features.

Source: How to include Maven dependencies in a WAR file (WEB-INF/lib) deployed using the m2eclipse plugin