How can sbt pull dependency artifacts from git?

Question

I've heard (and I know I've seen examples too, if only I can remember where) that sbt can obtain dependencies from a git repo.

I am looking to obtain the dependency harrah/up from github. The repository does not provide any artifact JAR files, only a source tree which is set up to be built using sbt. The process that I am imagining is that sbt will download the source repo, build it, and then use that as the dependency artifact.

I may be imagining that sbt can in fact do something like this. Can it? And if so, how?

score 106 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 31 '13 at 15:30

106

You can import unpackaged dependencies into your project from GitHub by treating them as project dependencies, using the dependsOn operator. (This is distinct from the way that precompiled library dependencies are included).

Note that you can specify which branch to pull using # notation. Here's some Scala SBT code that is working well for me:

object V {
  val depProject = "master"
  // Other library versions
}

object Projects {
  lazy val depProject = RootProject(uri("git://github.com/me/dep-project.git#%s".format(V.depProject)))
}

// Library dependencies
lazy val myProject = Project("my-project", file("."))
.settings(myProjectSettings: _*)
.dependsOn(Projects.depProject)
.settings(
  libraryDependencies ++= Seq(...

Note that if you have multiple SBT projects dependending on the same external project, it's worth setting up a central sbt.boot.directory to avoid unnecessary recompilations (see instructions here).

edited Jul 31 '13 at 15:30

Nicholas Marshall

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answered Jan 12 '12 at 00:48

Alex Dean

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can sbt also keep the local git updated with "git pull"? Or do I need to do that manually? – Arne Jul 11 '13 at 22:34
Is it possible to set `"my-project"` dynamically, using the `name := "MyProject"` setting from `build.sbt` in project root? – Danyel Dec 25 '13 at 00:55
2

`git://` protocol syntax doesn't seem to work for me in play/sbt 13.0. `https://` works though. This might also be caused by a git specific setting. – Sebastian Graf Jan 11 '14 at 19:57
Using sbt 0.13.9 and sbt updates the git dependency correctly using a shallow clone (git clone --depth 1). – Martin Tapp Oct 28 '15 at 13:15
2

The branch only works if set to `master`, otherwise I get: `[error] No project 'project_name' in 'ssh://git@github.com/user/project.git#branch'` – Neil May 11 '16 at 22:19
@Neil you've referenced the subproject as `project_name` in your top level project but in the subproject `build.sbt` you've likely referenced it as something else. The `val` name determines the project name. – John Smith Jan 17 '18 at 18:55

score 77 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 26 '11 at 03:40

77

Yes indeed. You can give your Project a dependency with the dependsOn operator, and you can reference a Github project by its URI, for example RootProject(uri("git://github.com/dragos/dupcheck.git")). Alternatively, you can git clone the project, and then reference your local copy with RootProject(file(...)). See "Full Configuration" on the SBT wiki for details and examples.

answered Sep 26 '11 at 03:40

Kipton Barros

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Do you know if it is possible to include this in `build.sbt`? – Owen Oct 02 '11 at 01:52
@Owen, I'm not sure, but I suspect not. Doesn't `build.sbt` need to contain newline separated `Setting`s? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. – Kipton Barros Oct 04 '11 at 04:00
Yes; that's correct (though I didn't know what when I asked). So the question reduces to whether there is a `Setting` for that -- it's possible that `projectDependencies` is such a setting; I'm not sure. – Owen Oct 04 '11 at 06:21
You do need a .scala build for this. – retronym Feb 26 '12 at 22:50
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Great insight. But if that project changes, how do you force `sbt` to recompile it? `clean` does not seem to help. – axel22 Sep 22 '12 at 14:37
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Hi Axel22, did you find any solution to your problem? – Jimmy Luong Apr 22 '14 at 16:15
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How can you configure this in situations where the git repo is private? Is there a way to configure SBT to send a deploy key, which could be set in a dotfile or environment variable? – acjay Jan 06 '16 at 22:58
1

I'd also like to know how to make sbt pull changes after pushing new commit to the github repository, if I point it to `#master`, reload, it clones it, then I push new commit to master and sbt still works with the originally cloned repository without noticing a new commit. At this point one have to either delete it from `/.sbt/0.13/staging/` and have sbt clone it again or going there and doing `git pull` – lisak Sep 02 '17 at 12:05

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 09 '18 at 19:22

Since I had problems getting the dependencies of my library resolved (using the suggested RootProject) I'd like to point out to the object called ProjectRef. Thus, if one need to depend on a library residing in git, I suggest to do so as follows:

import sbt.Keys._
import sbt._

object MyBuild extends Build {

  lazy val root = Project("root", file("."))
    .dependsOn(myLibraryinGit)
    .settings(
      ...,
      libraryDependencies ++= Seq(...))

  lazy val myLibraryinGit = ProjectRef(uri("git://git@github.com:user/repo.git#branch"), "repo-name")

}

Source: http://blog.xebia.com/git-subproject-compile-time-dependencies-in-sbt/

In case of git clone error try with `https uri` version. – Waldemar Wosiński Jan 26 '17 at 09:34 — Waldemar Wosiński, Jan 26 '17 at 09:34

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 15 '17 at 07:52

I wanted to add an answer for sbt 0.13+. Just put something like this to your build.sbt on project root folder (not Build.scala):

lazy val root = (project in file(".")).dependsOn(playJongo)

lazy val playJongo = RootProject(uri("https://github.com/bekce/play-jongo.git"))

How can sbt pull dependency artifacts from git?

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