In Maven, how do I make the version of my build use the version of one of its dependencies?

Question

I'm building a helper library for an external dependency. How can I make the version of my build take from the version of the external dependency?

  <groupId>com.foo</groupId>
  <artifactId>bar</artifactId>
  <version>???</version>

  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>com.external.dependency</groupId>
        <artifactId>bar</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.42</version>
      </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>

I want my library to build as 3.0.42 as well to reflect that it's a helper for that version (and possibly some older versions) of that external dependency.

Answer 1

You can either follow @Thorbjørn's suggestion to use ${project.version} in the dependency tag.

Alternatively, you can define a property <revision> in the properties section of your POM (note that the name is important, don't try another property name) and define both the <version> in the project and the library as ${revision}.

The second approach requires a reasonably new Maven version (like 3.5.x or 3.6.x).