Packaging flaw breaks ability to view Spring source in Eclipse

[RobertGloverJr]

It looks to me like the Spring folks have inadvertently made it difficult and perhaps even impossible to view the Spring Framework source code from within Eclipse when maven is being used.

The reason is that the source code of Spring Framework provided in the spring-framework-3.0.2.RELEASE download looks as follows:

org.springframework.aop-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.asm-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.aspects-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.beans-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.context-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.context.support-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.core-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.expression-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.instrument-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.instrument.tomcat-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.jdbc-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.jms-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.orm-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.oxm-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.test-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.transaction-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web.portlet-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web.servlet-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web.struts-sources-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar

However, the Spring Framework jar files containing the class files in the Maven repository look like the following. Notice that the jar files of classes in Maven do not match one-for-one with the jar files in the download containing the Spring Framework source code :

batch
build
security
spring
spring-aop
spring-asm
spring-beans
spring-context
spring-context-support
spring-core
spring-dao
spring-expression
spring-jdbc
spring-mock
spring-orm
spring-oxm
spring-parent
spring-struts
spring-support
spring-test
spring-tx
spring-web
spring-webmvc
spring-webmvc-struts
webflow

Because there is not a consistent one-for-one match between the class jar files and the source jar files, it is not at all apparent how in eclipse to associate the source code to the class files. Even if there were a one-to-one correspondence, it is a long, dreary process configuring the source to match the class files in eclipse--- but that's a subject for another post.


I hope I'm wrong about this. Has anybody else noticed this besides me?

[RobertGloverJr]

I found a workaround that is not sufficiently painful to rule it out as a viable workaround. I took fifteen minutes out of my workday to one-by-one unzip each and every jar file of SpringFramework source code, into the same directory.
Then I went into eclipse....project..properties...Jave Build Path...Maven Dependencies... and therein set the "Source Attachment" of each of the many SpringFramework jar files to point to that single directory where I unzipped all of the SpringFramework source.

I wonder if this is the "recommended" way to see the SpringFramework source code... or if someone knows a better way?

[Marten Deinum]

The download is a different package then the jars in the CENTRAL maven repositories, they take another naming convention. Why not let maven download the sources?! Why mess/hack around yourself.

mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse -DdownloadSources=true

Or if you use m2eclipse simply check the checkbox to download the sources and presto...

[RobertGloverJr]

I tried my best to use your solution but it did not work for me. I wonder if it is because the repository I point at

http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-parent/3.0.2.RELEASE

... for example ....

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
  <version>3.0.2.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>

does not have the Spring source code. Maybe the Spring source code is only kept in that other maven repository that Spring privately owns?

My first attempt at running

mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse  -DeclipseDownloadSources=true

resulted in:

Scanning for projects...
Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'eclipse'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building UESS
   task-segment: [eclipse:clean, eclipse:eclipse]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[eclipse:clean]
Deleting file: .project
Deleting file: .classpath
Deleting file: .wtpmodules
Deleting file: .component
Deleting file: org.eclipse.wst.common.component
Deleting file: org.eclipse.wst.common.project.facet.core.xml
Deleting file: org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs
Preparing eclipse:eclipse
No goals needed for project - skipping
[eclipse:eclipse]
Adding support for WTP version 1.5.
Using source status cache: C:\icd\ews\uesm_2010_02_25\UESS\target\mvn-eclipse-cache.properties
Wrote settings to C:\icd\ews\uesm_2010_02_25\UESS\.settings\org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs
Wrote Eclipse project for "UESS" to C:\icd\ews\uesm_2010_02_25\UESS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total time: 1 second
Finished at: Tue Apr 27 09:33:47 EDT 2010
Final Memory: 9M/508M
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well of course the source did not download in 1 second, the time it took for that build.

So, I looked at

http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-eclipse-plugin/eclipse-mojo.html

and found this documentation for "downloadSources" :

Enables/disables the downloading of source attachments.
 Defaults to false. When this flag is true remote repositories are 
checked for sources: in order to avoid repeated check for
 unavailable source archives, a status cache is mantained. 
With versions 2.6+ of the plugin to reset this cache run
 mvn eclipse:remove-cache, or use the forceRecheck option 
with versions. With older versions delete the file mvn-eclipse-cache.properties 
in the target directory.

I tried both suggestion above (deleting mvn-eclipse-cache.properties) and running "mvn eclipse:remove-cache".

Neither helped. The Spring source code did not download into my local Maven Repository (assuming that's where it would be placed).

I am using m2Eclipse but I could not find any option to check that indicated it would download source. The eclipse version is 3.4.1.
Looking at the "About Eclipse Platform Plug-ins", the Sonatype m2eclipse seems to be version 0.9.7.

[Marten Deinum]

1) it is -DdownloadSources=true NOT -DeclipseDownloadSources=true
2) Learn your environmet Window->Preferences->Maven There is a checkbox download artifact sources

3) The sources are there link

does not have the Spring source code. Maybe the Spring source code is only kept in that other maven repository that Spring privately owns?

They are publicly available they are

1. Maven central
2. SpringSource hosted maven repository
3. SpringSource hosted bundle repository

So trust me they are there, it is what I use everyday...