Hosting a Maven repository on github

Question

I have a fork of a small open sourced library that I m working on on github   I d like to make it available to other developers via maven  but I don t want to run my own Nexus server  and because it s a fork I can t easily deploy it to oss sonatype org   What I d like to do is to deploy it to github so that others can access it using maven   What s the best way to do this

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If you have only aar or jar file itself  or just don t want to use plugins - I ve created a simple shell script  You can achieve the same with it - publishing your artifacts to Github and use it as public Maven repo

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You can use JitPack  free for public Git repositories  to expose your GitHub repository as a Maven artifact  Its very easy  Your users would need to add this to their pom xml     Add repository     lt repository gt       lt id gt jitpack io lt  id gt       lt url gt https   jitpack io lt  url gt   lt  repository gt     Add dependency     lt dependency gt       lt groupId gt com github User lt  groupId gt       lt artifactId gt Repo name lt  artifactId gt       lt version gt Release tag lt  version gt   lt  dependency gt    As answered elsewhere the idea is that JitPack will build your GitHub repo and will serve the jars  The requirement is that you have a build file and a GitHub release   The nice thing is that you don t have to handle deployment and uploads  Since you didn t want to maintain your own artifact repository its a good match for your needs

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As an alternative  Bintray provides free hosting of maven repositories  That s probably a good alternative to Sonatype OSS and Maven Central if you absolutely don t want to rename the groupId  But please  at least make an effort to get your changes integrated upstream or rename and publish to Central  It makes it much easier for others to use your fork

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The best solution I ve been able to find consists of these steps    Create a branch called mvn-repo to host your maven artifacts  Use the github site-maven-plugin to push your artifacts to github  Configure maven to use your remote mvn-repo as a maven repository    There are several benefits to using this approach    Maven artifacts are kept separate from your source in a separate branch called mvn-repo  much like github pages are kept in a separate branch called gh-pages  if you use github pages  Unlike some other proposed solutions  it doesn t conflict with your gh-pages if you re using them  Ties in naturally with the deploy target so there are no new maven commands to learn   Just use mvn deploy as you normally would   The typical way you deploy artifacts to a remote maven repo is to use mvn deploy  so let s patch into that mechanism for this solution   First  tell maven to deploy artifacts to a temporary staging location inside your target directory   Add this to your pom xml    lt distributionManagement gt       lt repository gt           lt id gt internal repo lt  id gt           lt name gt Temporary Staging Repository lt  name gt           lt url gt file     project build directory  mvn-repo lt  url gt       lt  repository gt   lt  distributionManagement gt    lt plugins gt       lt plugin gt           lt artifactId gt maven-deploy-plugin lt  artifactId gt           lt version gt 2 8 1 lt  version gt           lt configuration gt               lt altDeploymentRepository gt internal repo  default  file     project build directory  mvn-repo lt  altDeploymentRepository gt           lt  configuration gt       lt  plugin gt   lt  plugins gt    Now try running mvn clean deploy   You ll see that it deployed your maven repository to target mvn-repo   The next step is to get it to upload that directory to GitHub   Add your authentication information to    m2 settings xml so that the github site-maven-plugin can push to GitHub    lt  -- NOTE  MAKE SURE THAT settings xml IS NOT WORLD READABLE  -- gt   lt settings gt     lt servers gt       lt server gt         lt id gt github lt  id gt         lt username gt YOUR-USERNAME lt  username gt         lt password gt YOUR-PASSWORD lt  password gt       lt  server gt     lt  servers gt   lt  settings gt     As noted  please make sure to chmod 700 settings xml to ensure no one can read your password in the file   If someone knows how to make site-maven-plugin prompt for a password instead of requiring it in a config file  let me know    Then tell the GitHub site-maven-plugin about the new server you just configured by adding the following to your pom    lt properties gt       lt  -- github server corresponds to entry in    m2 settings xml -- gt       lt github global server gt github lt  github global server gt   lt  properties gt    Finally  configure the site-maven-plugin to upload from your temporary staging repo to your mvn-repo branch on Github    lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt com github github lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt site-maven-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt version gt 0 11 lt  version gt               lt configuration gt                   lt message gt Maven artifacts for   project version  lt  message gt    lt  -- git commit message -- gt                   lt noJekyll gt true lt  noJekyll gt                                    lt  -- disable webpage processing -- gt                   lt outputDirectory gt   project build directory  mvn-repo lt  outputDirectory gt   lt  -- matches distribution management repository url above -- gt                   lt branch gt refs heads mvn-repo lt  branch gt                         lt  -- remote branch name -- gt                   lt includes gt  lt include gt      lt  include gt  lt  includes gt                   lt repositoryName gt YOUR-REPOSITORY-NAME lt  repositoryName gt        lt  -- github repo name -- gt                   lt repositoryOwner gt YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME lt  repositoryOwner gt      lt  -- github username  -- gt               lt  configuration gt               lt executions gt                 lt  -- run site-maven-plugin s  site  target as part of the build s normal  deploy  phase -- gt                 lt execution gt                   lt goals gt                     lt goal gt site lt  goal gt                   lt  goals gt                   lt phase gt deploy lt  phase gt                 lt  execution gt               lt  executions gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plugins gt   lt  build gt    The mvn-repo branch does not need to exist  it will be created for you   Now run mvn clean deploy again   You should see maven-deploy-plugin  upload  the files to your local staging repository in the target directory  then site-maven-plugin committing those files and pushing them to the server    INFO  Scanning for projects     INFO                                                                            INFO  ------------------------------------------------------------------------  INFO  Building DaoCore 1 3-SNAPSHOT  INFO  ------------------------------------------------------------------------      INFO  --- maven-deploy-plugin 2 5 deploy  default-deploy    greendao --- Uploaded  file    Users mike Projects greendao-emmby DaoCore target mvn-repo com greendao-orm greendao 1 3-SNAPSHOT greendao-1 3-20121223 182256-3 jar  77 KB at 2936 9 KB sec  Uploaded  file    Users mike Projects greendao-emmby DaoCore target mvn-repo com greendao-orm greendao 1 3-SNAPSHOT greendao-1 3-20121223 182256-3 pom  3 KB at 1402 3 KB sec  Uploaded  file    Users mike Projects greendao-emmby DaoCore target mvn-repo com greendao-orm greendao 1 3-SNAPSHOT maven-metadata xml  768 B at 150 0 KB sec  Uploaded  file    Users mike Projects greendao-emmby DaoCore target mvn-repo com greendao-orm greendao maven-metadata xml  282 B at 91 8 KB sec   INFO    INFO  --- site-maven-plugin 0 7 site  default    greendao ---  INFO  Creating 24 blobs  INFO  Creating tree with 25 blob entries  INFO  Creating commit with SHA-1  0b8444e487a8acf9caabe7ec18a4e9cff4964809  INFO  Updating reference refs heads mvn-repo from ab7afb9a228bf33d9e04db39d178f96a7a225593 to 0b8444e487a8acf9caabe7ec18a4e9cff4964809  INFO  ------------------------------------------------------------------------  INFO  BUILD SUCCESS  INFO  ------------------------------------------------------------------------  INFO  Total time  8 595s  INFO  Finished at  Sun Dec 23 11 23 03 MST 2012  INFO  Final Memory  9M 81M  INFO  ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Visit github com in your browser  select the mvn-repo branch  and verify that all your binaries are now there     Congratulations   You can now deploy your maven artifacts to a poor man s public repo simply by running mvn clean deploy   There s one more step you ll want to take  which is to configure any poms that depend on your pom to know where your repository is   Add the following snippet to any project s pom that depends on your project    lt repositories gt       lt repository gt           lt id gt YOUR-PROJECT-NAME-mvn-repo lt  id gt           lt url gt https   github com YOUR-USERNAME YOUR-PROJECT-NAME raw mvn-repo  lt  url gt           lt snapshots gt               lt enabled gt true lt  enabled gt               lt updatePolicy gt always lt  updatePolicy gt           lt  snapshots gt       lt  repository gt   lt  repositories gt    Now any project that requires your jar files will automatically download them from your github maven repository   Edit  to avoid the problem mentioned in the comments   Error creating commit  Invalid request  For  properties name   nil is not a string     make sure you state a name in your profile on github

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Another alternative is to use any web hosting with webdav support  You will need some space for this somewhere of course but it is straightforward to set up and a good alternative to running a full blown nexus server   add this to your build section        lt extensions gt           lt extension gt           lt artifactId gt wagon-webdav-jackrabbit lt  artifactId gt           lt groupId gt org apache maven wagon lt  groupId gt           lt version gt 2 2 lt  version gt           lt  extension gt       lt  extensions gt    Add something like this to your distributionManagement section   lt repository gt       lt id gt release repo lt  id gt       lt url gt dav http   repo jillesvangurp com releases  lt  url gt   lt  repository gt    Finally make sure to setup the repository access in your settings xml  add this to your servers section       lt server gt           lt id gt release repo lt  id gt           lt username gt xxxx lt  username gt           lt password gt xxxx lt  password gt       lt  server gt    and a definition to your repositories section               lt repository gt                   lt id gt release repo lt  id gt                   lt url gt http   repo jillesvangurp com releases lt  url gt                   lt releases gt                       lt enabled gt true lt  enabled gt                   lt  releases gt                   lt snapshots gt                       lt enabled gt false lt  enabled gt                   lt  snapshots gt               lt  repository gt    Finally  if you have any standard php hosting  you can use something like sabredav to add webdav capabilities   Advantages  you have your own maven repository Downsides  you don t have any of the management capabilities in nexus  you need some webdav setup somewhere

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Don t use GitHub as a Maven Repository   Edit  This option gets a lot of down votes  but no comments as to why  This is the correct option regardless of the technical capabilities to actually host on GitHub  Hosting on GitHub is wrong for all the reasons outlined below and without comments I can t improve the answer to clarify your issues   Best Option - Collaborate with the Original Project  The best option is to convince the original project to include your changes and stick with the original   Alternative - Maintain your own Fork  Since you have forked an open source library  and your fork is also open source  you can upload your fork to Maven Central  read Guide to uploading artifacts to the Central Repository  by giving it a new groupId and maybe a new artifactId   Only consider this option if you are willing to maintain this fork until the changes are incorporated into the original project and then you should abandon this one    Really consider hard whether a fork is the right option  Read the myriad Google results for  why not to fork   Reasoning   Bloating your repository with jars increases download size for no benefit  A jar is an output of your project  it can be regenerated at any time from its inputs  and your GitHub repo should contain only inputs   Don t believe me  Then check Google results for  dont store binaries in git     GitHub s help Working with large files will tell you the same thing  Admittedly jar s aren t large but they are larger than the source code and once a jar has been created by a release they have no reason to be versioned - that is what a new release is for   Defining multiple repos in your pom xml slows your build down by Number of Repositories times Number of Artifacts  Stephen Connolly says       If anyone adds your repo they impact their build performance   as they now have another repo to check artifacts against    It s not a big   problem if you only have to add one repo    But the problem grows and the next   thing you know your maven build is checking 50 repos for every artifact and   build time is a dog    That s right  Maven needs to check every artifact  and its dependencies  defined in your pom xml against every Repository you have defined  as a newer version might be available in any of those repositories    Try it out for yourself and you will feel the pain of a slow build    The best place for artifacts is in Maven Central  as its the central place for jars  and this means your build will only ever check one place   You can read some more about repositories at Maven s documentation on Introduction to Repositories

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Since 2019 you can now use the new functionality called Github package registry   Basically the process is    generate a new personal access token from the github settings add repository and token info in your settings xml deploy using  mvn deploy -Dregistry https   maven pkg github com yourusername  -Dtoken yor token

[maven] Hosting a Maven repository on github

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