Removing version number from Gradle dependencies

[sihutch]

Hi All,

Does anyone know if there is an existing recipe that I can use to remove the version number from a grade dependency? We are moving to the spring dependency management plugin, so the versions will be centrally managed. I am aware that I can use find and replace but I would prefer to use a "gradle" recipe if one exists.

Thanks in advance

Simon

[timtebeek]

I know @Jenson3210 has done some related work to standardize and clear out dependency versions. Perhaps he has some insights to share here?

[Jenson3210]

I would recommend staying away from Find and replace for this one.
Problem is there are about 10+ ways in declaring dependencies/versions.

Are there any variables in the input?

Or is it only map and string notation with 'simple' strings?
In that case, I think that it would not be too hard.

I would go for a basic gradle recipe(RemoveVersionNotation), used in a spring recipe that migrates to dependency plugin(MigrateToDependencyPlugin)?

[sihutch]

Thanks both. @timtebeek In our case, the spring dependency management is provided by a custom plugin. Would you be interested in a pr that simply offers the removal of versions from gradle dependencies regardless of whether the resulting dependency can be resolved once the recipe has run? This would definitely be useful for us but I would be happy to submit a pr if you think it worthwhile.

[Jenson3210]

So you mean to say a recipe that receives the typical group/version names and strips the version of the string and map notation?

It so happens that I am giving a live coding session on custom recipe development (internally) and am looking for a usecase.

I was thinking of requesting the audience for good use cases that would deliver real value to them but could use this one if no other ideas are brought up.

Of course, feel free to bring up your own PR if @timtebeek sees value.

Personally, I do see value in the 2 recipes:

• Remove version declaration
• migrate to dep mgmt plugin:
  • remove versions from bom versions
  • add plugin

[sihutch]

@Jenson3210. I

"So you mean to say a recipe that receives the typical group/version names and strips the version of the string and map notation?" Yes, and optionally (defaults to false) removes a property name from gradle.properties if it is only referred to by the dependency being updated.

I see value in those two recipes, too. We have a direct need for "Remove version declaration" but not for "migrate to dep mgmt plugin", so my employer may only let me work on the first initially.

Sounds like a good use case for your session. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[timtebeek]

Hi both! Great to follow the discussion here; In general I can say we try not to have recipes that could potentially be damaging, as it's hard to educate folks when exactly it's safe to make a particular change. As such stripping a dependency version is a risky operation; only when you're certain that you can fallback onto a managed dependency version would that be safe to apply.

We then prefer recipes that make a change, and adopt the idiomatic change that goes along with it. As a parallel: when changing a Maven parent we also check to introduce dependency management for dependencies no longer managed in the new parent, and strip now superfluous dependency versions where newly managed. I'd like such an approach here better: when the dependency management plugin is introduced or upgraded, strip away explicit versions that override a (now) managed version. No idea if that's feasible, but figured provided that context as input here.