Get source jar files attached to Eclipse for Maven-managed dependencies

Question

I am using Maven  and the Maven Eclipse Integration  to manage the dependencies for my Java projects in Eclipse  The automatic download feature for JAR files from the Maven repositories is a real time saver  Unfortunately  it does not include API documentation and source code   How can I set up Maven to automatically also get the source and javadoc attachments and register them properly with Eclipse

User · Answer

mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true   or  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadJavadocs true   or you can add both flags  as Spencer K points out   Additionally  the  true portion is not required  so you can use  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources -DdownloadJavadocs

User · Answer

For Indigo  and probably Helios  the checkboxes mentioned above are located here   Window -  Preferences -  Maven

User · Answer

overthink suggested using the setup in the pom    lt project gt       lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt maven-eclipse-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt configuration gt                   lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt                   lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt                      other stuff                  lt  configuration gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plgins gt   lt  build gt          First i thought this still won t attach the javadoc and sources  as i tried unsuccessfully with that -DdownloadSources option before    But surprise - the  classpath file IS getting its sources and javadoc attached when using the POM variant

User · Answer

Checking download source javadoc in Eclipse-Maven preference  sometimes is not enough  In the event maven failed to download them for some reason  a network blackout    maven creates some   lastUpdated files  then will never download again  My empirical solution was to delete the artifact directory from  m2 repository  and restart the eclipse workspace with download source javadoc checked and update projects at startup checked as well  After the workspace has been restarted  maybe some projects can be marked in error  while eclipse progress is downloading  then any error will be cleared  Maybe this procedure is not so  scientific   but for me did succeded

User · Answer

I tried windows- pref  - Maven But it was not working out  Hence I created a new class path with command mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true and refreshed the workspace once  voila   Sources were attached    Source jar s entry is available in class path  Hence new build solved the problem

User · Answer

mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true   or  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadJavadocs true   or you can add both flags  as Spencer K points out   Additionally  the  true portion is not required  so you can use  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources -DdownloadJavadocs

User · Answer

If you are using meclipse do  window --  maven --  Download Artifact Sources  select check    If you still get attach source window  then click on attach file button and close the attach source window  The next time you try to see the source it will open the correct source   Surajz

User · Answer

I prefer not to put source Javadoc download settings into the project pom xml file as I feel these are user preferences  not project properties  Instead  I place them in a profile in my settings xml file    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  UTF-8   gt   lt settings xmlns  http   maven apache org SETTINGS 1 0 0    xmlns xsi  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema-instance    xsi schemaLocation  http   maven apache org SETTINGS 1 0 0 http   maven apache org xsd settings-1 0 0 xsd  gt      lt profiles gt       lt profile gt         lt id gt sources-and-javadocs lt  id gt         lt properties gt           lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt           lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt         lt  properties gt       lt  profile gt     lt  profiles gt      lt activeProfiles gt       lt activeProfile gt sources-and-javadocs lt  activeProfile gt     lt  activeProfiles gt   lt  settings gt

User · Answer

For Indigo  and probably Helios  the checkboxes mentioned above are located here   Window -  Preferences -  Maven

User · Answer

There is also a similiar question that answers this and includes example pom settings

User · Answer

in my version of Eclipse helios with m2Eclipse there is no  window -- gt  maven -- gt  Download Artifact Sources  select check    Under window is only  new window    new editor   open perspective  etc   If you right click on your project  then chose maven--  download sources   Nothing happens   no sources get downloaded  no pom files get updated  no window pops up asking which sources   Doing mvn xxx outside of eclipse is dangerous - some commands dont work with m2ecilpse - I did that once and lost the entire project  had to reinstall eclipse and start from scratch   Im still looking for a way to get ecilpse and maven to find and use the source of external jars like servlet-api

User · Answer

I am sure m2eclipse Maven plugin for Eclipse - the other way around - can do that  You can configure it to download both the source files and javadoc automatically for you   This is achieved by going into Window   Preferences   Maven and checking the  Download Artifact Sources  and  Download Artifact JavaDoc  options

User · Answer

There is also a similiar question that answers this and includes example pom settings

User · Answer

in my version of Eclipse helios with m2Eclipse there is no  window -- gt  maven -- gt  Download Artifact Sources  select check    Under window is only  new window    new editor   open perspective  etc   If you right click on your project  then chose maven--  download sources   Nothing happens   no sources get downloaded  no pom files get updated  no window pops up asking which sources   Doing mvn xxx outside of eclipse is dangerous - some commands dont work with m2ecilpse - I did that once and lost the entire project  had to reinstall eclipse and start from scratch   Im still looking for a way to get ecilpse and maven to find and use the source of external jars like servlet-api

User · Answer

Right click on project -  maven -  download sources

User · Answer

If you are using meclipse do  window --  maven --  Download Artifact Sources  select check    If you still get attach source window  then click on attach file button and close the attach source window  The next time you try to see the source it will open the correct source   Surajz

User · Answer

If the source jars are in the local repository and you are using Eclipses maven support the sources are getting automatically attached  You can run mvn dependency sources to download all source jars for a given project  Not sure how to do the same with the documentation though

User · Answer

overthink suggested using the setup in the pom    lt project gt       lt build gt       lt plugins gt           lt plugin gt               lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt               lt artifactId gt maven-eclipse-plugin lt  artifactId gt               lt configuration gt                   lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt                   lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt                      other stuff                  lt  configuration gt           lt  plugin gt       lt  plgins gt   lt  build gt          First i thought this still won t attach the javadoc and sources  as i tried unsuccessfully with that -DdownloadSources option before    But surprise - the  classpath file IS getting its sources and javadoc attached when using the POM variant

User · Answer

If the source jars are in the local repository and you are using Eclipses maven support the sources are getting automatically attached  You can run mvn dependency sources to download all source jars for a given project  Not sure how to do the same with the documentation though

User · Answer

There is also a similiar question that answers this and includes example pom settings

User · Answer

I had a similar problem  and the solution that worked best for me was to include the source in the same jar as the compiled code  so a given directory in the jar would include both Foo java and Foo class   Eclipse automatically associates the source with the compiled code  and automatically provides the JavaDoc from the source  Obviously  that s only helpful if you control the artifact

User · Answer

I prefer not to put source Javadoc download settings into the project pom xml file as I feel these are user preferences  not project properties  Instead  I place them in a profile in my settings xml file    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  UTF-8   gt   lt settings xmlns  http   maven apache org SETTINGS 1 0 0    xmlns xsi  http   www w3 org 2001 XMLSchema-instance    xsi schemaLocation  http   maven apache org SETTINGS 1 0 0 http   maven apache org xsd settings-1 0 0 xsd  gt      lt profiles gt       lt profile gt         lt id gt sources-and-javadocs lt  id gt         lt properties gt           lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt           lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt         lt  properties gt       lt  profile gt     lt  profiles gt      lt activeProfiles gt       lt activeProfile gt sources-and-javadocs lt  activeProfile gt     lt  activeProfiles gt   lt  settings gt

User · Answer

I ve added the pom configuration to the maven-eclipse plugin to download source and javadocs  but I figure hope that will happen for new dependencies  not existing ones   For existing dependencies  I browsed in package explorer down to the  Maven Dependencies  and right-clicked on commons-lang-2 5 jar  selected Maven   Download Sources and    nothing appeared to happen  no progress bar or indication that it was doing anything   It did  however  download as I m able to jump to source in commons-lang now

User · Answer

The other answers on this work  but if you want to avoid having to remember command line arguments  you can also just add to the downloadSources and downloadJavadocs config to the maven-eclipse-plugin section of your pom xml    lt project gt               lt build gt           lt plugins gt               lt plugin gt                   lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt                   lt artifactId gt maven-eclipse-plugin lt  artifactId gt                   lt configuration gt                       lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt                       lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt                          other stuff                      lt  configuration gt               lt  plugin gt           lt  plugins gt       lt  build gt           lt  project gt

User · Answer

After Setting the Properties either at Project Level or User Properties level  Please do a Maven -  Update Project  Force Update   It downloads the sources

User · Answer

mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true   or  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadJavadocs true   or you can add both flags  as Spencer K points out   Additionally  the  true portion is not required  so you can use  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources -DdownloadJavadocs

User · Answer

mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true   or  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadJavadocs true   or you can add both flags  as Spencer K points out   Additionally  the  true portion is not required  so you can use  mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources -DdownloadJavadocs

User · Answer

Changing pom for maven-eclipse-plugin to include source javadoc just apply for new dependencies being added to pom  If we need to apply for existing dependencies  we must run mvn dependency sources  I checked this

User · Answer

The other answers on this work  but if you want to avoid having to remember command line arguments  you can also just add to the downloadSources and downloadJavadocs config to the maven-eclipse-plugin section of your pom xml    lt project gt               lt build gt           lt plugins gt               lt plugin gt                   lt groupId gt org apache maven plugins lt  groupId gt                   lt artifactId gt maven-eclipse-plugin lt  artifactId gt                   lt configuration gt                       lt downloadSources gt true lt  downloadSources gt                       lt downloadJavadocs gt true lt  downloadJavadocs gt                          other stuff                      lt  configuration gt               lt  plugin gt           lt  plugins gt       lt  build gt           lt  project gt

User · Answer

Changing pom for maven-eclipse-plugin to include source javadoc just apply for new dependencies being added to pom  If we need to apply for existing dependencies  we must run mvn dependency sources  I checked this

User · Answer

After Setting the Properties either at Project Level or User Properties level  Please do a Maven -  Update Project  Force Update   It downloads the sources

User · Answer

There is also a similiar question that answers this and includes example pom settings

User · Answer

I am sure m2eclipse Maven plugin for Eclipse - the other way around - can do that  You can configure it to download both the source files and javadoc automatically for you   This is achieved by going into Window   Preferences   Maven and checking the  Download Artifact Sources  and  Download Artifact JavaDoc  options

User · Answer

Right click on project -  maven -  download sources

User · Answer

Checking download source javadoc in Eclipse-Maven preference  sometimes is not enough  In the event maven failed to download them for some reason  a network blackout    maven creates some   lastUpdated files  then will never download again  My empirical solution was to delete the artifact directory from  m2 repository  and restart the eclipse workspace with download source javadoc checked and update projects at startup checked as well  After the workspace has been restarted  maybe some projects can be marked in error  while eclipse progress is downloading  then any error will be cleared  Maybe this procedure is not so  scientific   but for me did succeded

User · Answer

I had a similar problem  and the solution that worked best for me was to include the source in the same jar as the compiled code  so a given directory in the jar would include both Foo java and Foo class   Eclipse automatically associates the source with the compiled code  and automatically provides the JavaDoc from the source  Obviously  that s only helpful if you control the artifact

User · Answer

I ve added the pom configuration to the maven-eclipse plugin to download source and javadocs  but I figure hope that will happen for new dependencies  not existing ones   For existing dependencies  I browsed in package explorer down to the  Maven Dependencies  and right-clicked on commons-lang-2 5 jar  selected Maven   Download Sources and    nothing appeared to happen  no progress bar or indication that it was doing anything   It did  however  download as I m able to jump to source in commons-lang now

User · Answer

I tried windows- pref  - Maven But it was not working out  Hence I created a new class path with command mvn eclipse eclipse -DdownloadSources true and refreshed the workspace once  voila   Sources were attached    Source jar s entry is available in class path  Hence new build solved the problem

[eclipse] Get source jar files attached to Eclipse for Maven-managed dependencies

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