Host Maven Repository

Question

Hi all,

I would like to host a Maven repository for a framework we're working on and its dependencies. Can I just deploy my artifacts to my ftp host using mvn deploy, or should I manually deploy and/or setup some things before being able to deploy artifacts? Do I need a tool like Apache Archiva? Note: I only have ftp access to server I want to host the maven repo on.

Edit: I must have been more clear I guess. The online repository I want to use is not hosted by myself. I only have ftp access, so if possible, I would like to use that ftp space as a Maven repository. The tools mentioned seem to work when you have full control over the host machine, or at least more than just ftp access since you need to configure the local directories where the repositories will be placed. Is this possible?

Answer 1

You might want to have a look at Nexus, a Maven repository manager. We've replaced our local Maven repository with a Nexus-based one and find it tremendously useful.

Answer 2

I've successfully used Archiva as my repository for several years ... see http://archiva.apache.org/. It's easy to administer and allows you to configure as many repositories as you need (SNAPSHOT, internal, external, etc).

According to the book "Better Builds with Maven", the most common type of repository is HTTP, this paragraph describes what I think you need:

"This chapter will assume the repositories are running from http://localhost:8081/ and that artifacts are deployed to the repositories using the file system. However, it is possible to use a repository on another server with any combination of supported protocols including http, ftp, scp, sftp and more. For more information, refer to Chapter 3."

A Maven 2 repository is simply a specific directory structure, so once you get the transport and server specifications right for the repository and deployment portion of your POMs, it should be completely transparent to your users.

Answer 3

Contact us at Sonatype.com, we have an instance of Nexus that we make available for OSS projects. We would be happy to provide you access to repository space.