I am looking at possible breaking apart a large distribution into core+downloadable modules. The project is Java-based, so the users will have Java (1.7) installed. But possibly nothing else.
So, the idea is to have them download a bootstrap distribution that includes project core + (if it is a good fit) embedded Gradle. Then, use Gradle for plugin management to resolve the dependencies and download what’s needed.
Would that be a suitable use-case for Gradle? And if so, how small can the Gradle get. Some of the libraries it needs are also needed for the project core, but 40Mb extra is still quite a bit. What would be the minimal core required to just do the dependency management and download (possibly with support for Maven repos).
Thank you,
Alex.