Recommended ways of (Java) dependency management

Hi everyone!

I was wondering what the current recommendations for managing JVM (Java) dependencies in multi-project builds are.

For context, we’re talking about a Gradle multi-project build for a Java 11 application with ~100 subprojects and 242 unique external dependencies (dependencies between subprojects not counted).

I’ve found multiple approaches but would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages.

1. Declare dependencies in a dedicated submodule with the java-platform plugin and include the platform in all subprojects. This is the approach I’m currently using
2. Declare dependencies in a map in a Gradle script and refer to them in each subproject build.gradle file.
   Example: Kafka
   • https://github.com/apache/kafka/blob/2.6.0/gradle/dependencies.gradle
   • https://github.com/apache/kafka/blob/2.6.0/build.gradle#L698
3. Declare dependency versions in gradle.properties and include them in every subproject.

   api("org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients:${kafka_version}")
   implementation("org.slf4j:slf4j-api:${slf4j_version}")
   // ...
   

Which approach are you using What are the advantages or disadvantages you see?