PMD fails with `Could not find {dependency}`

Help/Discuss
1

Hello!

Let me introduce my problem:

I have a simple mix project. I mean I have the project with the next structure:

root
|
\ A (spring-based with java)
\ B (It takes A)
\ C (It takes B)
...

So, each build.gradle looks like:

A module:

plugins {
    id 'java-library'
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '3.4.4'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.7'
}

group = 'org.example'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'

java {
    toolchain {
        languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(21)
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
}

B module:

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'pmd'
}

pmd {
    consoleOutput = true
    toolVersion = "7.12.0"
}

group = 'org.example'
version = '1.0-SNAPSHOT'

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation project(':A')
}

C module:

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '3.4.4'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.7'
}

group = 'org.example'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'

java {
    toolchain {
        languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(21)
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
    implementation project(':B')
}

tasks.named('test') {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

When I run gradle build or gradle pmdMain

I got an issue:

Execution failed for task ':B:pmdMain'.
> Could not resolve all files for configuration ':B:mainPmdAuxClasspath'.
   > Could not find org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:.
     Required by:
         project :B > project :A

Possible solution:
 - Declare repository providing the artifact, see the documentation at https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/declaring_repositories.html

Let me highlight there is no any code used from module A in module B. Module B just takes A with implementation project(':A') and nothing more: threre is no any import, or class, just declaration in build.gradle

Why does it work so?

PMD checks only transitive dependencies. I mean if there is some usage of class TestController with @RestController spring annotation from module A in module B then it’s okay, it’s needed. But here where only implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web' is used…

Could you please help me in that question?

2

You should stop using the Spring Dependency Management plugin.
It is a relict from times when Gradle did not have built-in BOM support,
by now it does more harm than good, and even its maintainer recommends
not to use it anymore, but instead the built-in BOM support using platform(...).

3

It solves the problem! Thank you so much
May I ask you what’s the reason of plugin spring BOM usage? Because there are a lot of documentation with the same notation as I used almost everywhere

4

The documentations is wrong / outdated, and people might not be aware enough that they shouldn’t use it anymore.

Only reasons to use the spring dependency management plugin nowadays that I’m aware of are if

  • you want broken by design Maven concepts that should never be invented ported over to the Gradle world
  • you want less clear reporting in build scans regarding dependencies
  • you want less clear reporting in dependencies task, dependencyInsights task and similar
  • you want strange and unexpected results in some situations when it comes to dependency resolution
5

Got it
Thank you!

But talking about gradle
Seems it does some dependency resolution for pmd during ‘gradle pmdMain’ task because it fails. Why? Is it needed for pmd analysis?

6

Some PMD rules do type resolution at analysis time to avoid false-positives and for that need the compiled classes and compile-time dependencies as far as I remember.