How to Display the Maven Dependency Tree Specifically for Plugins in a Project?

How can you display the Maven dependency tree specifically for plugins in your project?

mvn dependency:tree -Dverbose -Dincludes=org.apache.maven.plugins

Displaying the Maven dependency tree for plugins helps in understanding the relationships and versions of the plugins used in your project. This can be particularly useful for debugging issues with plugin compatibility or resolving conflicts between plugin versions.

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
        </plugin>
        <!-- Other plugins -->
    </plugins>
</build>

Causes

• The default `mvn dependency:tree` command only shows project dependencies.
• Plugins are not included in the dependency management output unless specified.

Solutions

• To display the dependency tree for plugins, use the command: `mvn dependency:tree -Dverbose -Dincludes=org.apache.maven.plugins` which filters the tree to only show dependencies related to Maven plugins.
• Alternatively, you can manually check the `pom.xml` file for plugin entries and their specified versions.

Mistake: Not specifying the correct groupId or artifactId when filtering the plugins.

Solution: Ensure that you are using the correct identifiers in the command. Use `-Dincludes=<groupId>` to filter for the desired plugin.

Mistake: Failing to run the command in the correct project directory.

Solution: Make sure you execute the command in the root directory of your Maven project where the `pom.xml` file is located.