Run tests with multiple dependency versions? - java

My library depends on another library; let's call it "lib". I want to test my library with multiple versions of lib, in an automated manner.
Test if my library compiles for each version of lib.
Run JUnit 5 tests for each version of lib.
Are there any existing solutions for this?
I could write a script that changes the version number of lib in my pom.xml and executes mvn compile and mvn surefire:test. I could also use profiles and automate this with a script. I was hoping there is a better way, through something like a Maven plugin.

Maven focuses on reproducible builds which means that if you repeat the build at a later date you should get the same results which in turn requires that the dependency versions are fixed.
This fundamental mindset is what you want to challenge. Maven won't like it even if it is for a good reason, and you will most likely need to have a separate full run for each version instead of looping inside Maven.
I was thinking that the way I would approach this, is to have a bill-of-materials POM that has a dependencyManagement section that lists the exact version you want to have, which is generated in the local filesystem before each run, and then orchestrate a run for each version you want to test.
You can also leverage your build system and have a repository which orchestrates this. Github Actions can do array builds which might be what you need.

Related

How to run job-dsl-plugin locally with additional plugins

We are using the Jenkins Job-DSL plugin for creating a number of jobs and having the actual job-configuration as part of the version-controlled source-code.
In order to test the resulting XML files locally, I currently use something like the following:
java -jar /opt/job-dsl-plugin/job-dsl-core/build/libs/job-dsl-core-1.78-SNAPSHOT-standalone.jar create_jobs.groovy
This allows to look at the resulting XML while making changes.
However some DSL elements are failing in the local build, but still work on the actual Jenkins installation.
E.g. "batchFile", "pullRequestBuildTrigger" and a few others.
As far as I understand these are separate Jenkins plugins which contribute some additional elements to the DSL, so the core job-dsl-plugin does not know about them.
I tried various ways of adding the code from these plugins to the job-dsl-plugin so that I can run the local transformation, but I could not find a way that actually works. Adding the plugins to job-dsl-plugin, classpath, ... nohting fixed it.
I also looked at How to import and run 3rd party Jenkins Plugin's extension DSL (githubPullRequest) with Gradle tool locally?, but the suggestions there did not work for me as I do not want to run a local Jenkins instance here.
So how can I run the job-dsl-plugin manually with DSL from additional plugins being available?

Test dependencies for white-box unit testing Java modules with Maven and Eclipse

I'm trying to convert existing Java projects with Maven and Eclipse into Java 9+ modules. The projects have unit tests and the unit tests have test dependencies. I need the test dependencies to be available in the test code, but I don't want them exposed to the rest of the world in the published modules.
I think Testing in the Modular World describes the Maven solutions well. In summary one solution is to create one module-info.java in the main source folder and another in the testing folder. The file in the main folder has the real dependencies. The file in the test folder adds the test dependencies.
The solution works well in Maven and I can build and run tests from the command line. However, when I import the project into Eclipse as a Maven project it balks. Eclipse complains that "build path contains duplicate entry module-info" and refuses to build the project at all.
Using the other suggested solution in the article with a module-info.test containing --add-reads has no effect and the build fails in both Maven and Eclipse as the tests can't find their dependencies.
To make matters more complex I need to import the test dependencies from Maven, but I also need to import standard Java modules that are not used by the main code. For example one unit test relies on the built-in web server provided by java.httpserver and as it is part of the JDK any magic done on the test dependencies will miss it.
Is there a solution for this that works in Maven and Eclipse (latest versions)? It sounds like a very common problem and the module system has been around for a while by now.
Note that I really don't want to change the project settings in Eclipse. I can fiddle with plugins in the pom files, but adding a manual routine where all developers need to edit the generated/imported project settings manually is not an option.
EDIT:
There is an open Eclipse bug report for this, see Eclipse bug 536847. It seems it is not supported yet, but perhaps someone can suggest a workaround?
The Eclipse emulation of the multiple-classpaths-per-project feature in Maven has been broken for very long. The symptom is that you can have non-test classes using test dependencies just fine.
Essentially Eclipse just considers each project to have a single classpath instead of two parallel ones which causes things like this to ... not do the right thing.
I would suggest splitting each of the problematic projects into two. One with the actual sources and one with the test sources (depending on the actual source). This will avoid the Eclipse bug and also allow you to use the newest version of Java for your tests while having your application built for an older version of Java.

How to make maven use separate target folders for every version of program?

As example, i have program with version 0.0.1. Maven must create separate folder for it - "target/0.0.1/" instead of "target/". It must be done for version "0.0.2", "0.0.3", etc.
I use Eclipse & it's Maven:
Version: Oxygen.3a Release (4.7.3a)
Build id: 20180405-1200
JDK 1.8.0_172
Maven doesn't work that way, and trying to do something like that will lead to a path of suffering. Options I see include
Creating a separate assembly (and output Jar) for each version (see Maven Assembly Plugin)
Create a multi-project reactor with a separate output configuration for every project. Keep common code in one project that you link as dependency from the others. Possibly use the maven-shade-plugin to re-link the packages in your common project into the individual output projects
As you can see, both of these approaches are pretty hacky and require advanced Maven skills. It would be much easier to have parameterized builds where you pass in the output version. But that would make sense on a CI server like Jenkins.

Including .jar files in Github for consistency

I am new to using github and have been trying to figure out this question by looking at other people's repositories, but I cannot figure it out. When people fork/clone repositories in github to their local computers to develop on the project, is it expected that the cloned project is complete (ie. it has all of the files that it needs to run properly). For example, if I were to use a third-party library in the form of a .jar file, should I include that .jar file in the repository so that my code is ready to run when someone clones it, or is it better to just make a note that you are using such-and-such third-party libraries and the user will need to download those libraries elsewhere before they begin work. I am just trying to figure at the best practices for my code commits.
Thanks!
Basically it is as Chris said.
You should use a build system that has a package manager. This way you specify which dependencies you need and it downloads them automatically. Personally I have worked with maven and ant. So, here is my experience:
Apache Maven:
First word about maven, it is not a package manager. It is a build system. It just includes a package manager, because for java folks downloading the dependencies is part of the build process.
Maven comes with a nice set of defaults. This means you just use the archtype plugin to create a project ("mvn archetype:create" on the cli). Think of an archetype as a template for your project. You can choose what ever archetype suits your needs best. In case you use some framework, there is probably an archetype for it. Otherwise the simple-project archetype will be your choice. Afterwards your code goes to src/main/java, your test cases go to src/test/java and "mvn install" will build everything. Dependencies can be added to the pom in maven's dependency format. http://search.maven.org/ is the place to look for dependencies. If you find it there, you can simply copy the xml snippet to your pom.xml (which has been created by maven's archetype system for you).
In my experience, maven is the fastest way to get a project with dependencies and test execution set up. Also I never experienced that a maven build which worked on my machine failed somewhere else (except for computers which had year-old java versions). The charm is that maven's default lifecycle (or build cycle) covers all your needs. Also there are a lot of plugins for almost everything. However, you have a big problem if you want to do something that is not covered by maven's lifecycle. However, I only ever encountered that in mixed-language projects. As soon as you need anything but java, you're screwed.
Apache Ivy:
I've only ever used it together with Apache Ant. However, Ivy is a package manager, ant provides a build system. Ivy is integrated into ant as a plugin. While maven usually works out of the box, Ant requires you to write your build file manually. This allows for greater flexibility than maven, but comes with the prize of yet another file to write and maintain. Basically Ant files are as complicated as any source code, which means you should comment and document them. Otherwise you will not be able to maintain your build process later on.
Ivy itself is as easy as maven's dependency system. You have an xml file which defines your dependencies. As for maven, you can find the appropriate xml snippets on maven central http://search.maven.org/.
As a summary, I recommend Maven in case you have a simple Java Project. Ant is for cases where you need to do something special in your build.

Maven requires manual dependency update?

I'm new to Maven, using the m2e plugin for Eclipse. I'm still wrapping my head around Maven, but it seems like whenever I need to import a new library, like java.util.List, now I have to manually go through the hassle of finding the right repository for the jar and adding it to the dependencies in the POM. This seems like a major hassle, especially since some jars can't be found in public repositories, so they have to be uploaded into the local repository.
Am I missing something about Maven in Eclipse? Is there a way to automatically update the POM when Eclipse automatically imports a new library?
I'm trying to understand how using Maven saves time/effort...
You picked a bad example. Portions of the actual Java Library that come with the Java Standard Runtime are there regardless of Maven configuration.
With that in mind, if you wanted to add something external, say Log4j, then you would need to add a project dependency on Log4j. Maven would then take the dependency information and create a "signature" to search for, first in the local cache, and then in the external repositories.
Such a signature might look like
groupId:artifactId:version
or perhaps
groupId:artifactId:version:classifier
This identifies a maven "module" which will then be downloaded and configured into your system. Once in place it adds all of the classes within the module to your configured project.
Maven principally saves time in downloading and organizing JAR files in your build. By defining a "standard" project layout and a "standard" build order, Maven eliminates a lot of the guesswork in the "why isn't my project building" sweepstakes. Also, you can use neat commands like "mvn dependency:tree" to print out a list of all the JARs your project depends on, recursively.
Warning note: If you are using the M2E plugin and Eclipse, you may also run into problems with the plugin itself. The 1.0 version (hosted at eclipse.org) was much less friendly than the previous 0.12 version (hosted at Sonatype). You can get around this to some extent by downloading and installing the "standalone" version of Maven from apache (maven.apache.org) and running Maven from the command line. This is actually much more stable than trying to run Maven inside Eclipse (in my personal experience) and may save you some pain as you try to learn about Maven.

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