apache / apache/uima-uimaj

Move the Maven plugins to a separate repository and release cycle

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⚙️ Refactoring
Dominant language
Java
Stars
71
Forks
39
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

**Describe the refactoring action**
Move the Maven plugins to a separate repository and release cycle.

**Expected benefit**
Currently, we build the UIMA Maven plugins as part of the UIMA Java SDK. However, it is not possible in Maven to use a plugin in the same reactor it is built in. The best option we have currently is to hard-code an older version of the plugins into the build.
It would probably be cleaner and clearer if the Maven plugins would reside in their own repository and had their own release cycle separate from the UIMA Java SDK.

Here is how it currently manifests itself if we try to use the plugin built from the current reactor. In fact, it does not use it but tries to obtain it from the SNAPSHOT repo:

```
[INFO] --- jcasgen:3.6.0-SNAPSHOT:generate (default) @ uimafit-core ---
Warning: The POM for org.apache.uima:jcasgen-maven-plugin:jar:3.6.0-20241118.151434-44 is invalid, transitive dependencies (if any) will not be available: 6 problems were encountered while building the effective model for org.apache.uima:jcasgen-maven-plugin:3.6.0-SNAPSHOT
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for org.sonatype.plexus:plexus-build-api:jar is missing. @
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for junit:junit:jar is missing. @
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for org.assertj:assertj-core:jar is missing. @
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for org.apache.maven:maven-compat:jar is missing. @
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for org.apache.maven.plugin-testing:maven-plugin-testing-harness:jar is missing. @
Error: 'dependencies.dependency.version' for org.slf4j:slf4j-jdk14:jar is missing. @
```

See also: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17284553/maven-plugin-as-dependency-in-multi-module-project

> I had a quick look at your project and found, that the "generator" plugin is part of the multimodule project and it is used (with the same version) within this project. This is not a legal use! You have to provide all required plugins from outside the reactor!
>
> The reason for this is, that maven tries to fill the reactor and determine all required plugins beforehand. Then it starts the build. Maven cannot perform this, if the generator plugin is part of the project.

The extra release cycle should not be too bad because we rarely change things that actually affect the plugins or the plugins themselves.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by inventorying the UIMA Maven plugins, including jcasgen-maven-plugin, and tracing how they are built and invoked in the Java SDK reactor. Define the repository and release boundaries, then verify that the SDK no longer builds or consumes the plugins from the same reactor and that each plugin can follow its own release cycle.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
build-system, release
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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