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How do you download Spring Framework jars if you can't stand Maven or any of the other build management tools. From what I can tell it seems you have to spend many frustrating hours on Google to find out how to do this. I thought Spring was supposed to be easy. All I'm trying to do is to write a simple Hello World application using Eclipse and Tomcat. Why is it so difficult with Spring 3?

Rajiv Bandi
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resigned
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3 Answers3

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go there

http://repo.spring.io/release/org/springframework/spring/

you can see all versions, like old school

borei
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Why can't you stand Maven? I like Maven, but I really like Gradle.

Either way, if you only build with your IDE, you can't automate your build (so no chance at continuous integration/delivery), and it's tough to integrate new members of your team. Specifically with this question about Spring dependencies, it is a lot easier to automate management of transitive dependencies rather than download them all yourself--and figuring out which new jars to download by tracing through one NoClassDefFoundError after another.

I think the Spring guys can't imagine why anyone would want to endure all these downsides. But it's your project and you should do what you think is right.

So if you must, grab the jars starting with this one from Maven Central yourself and have some fun.

Vidya
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    I'm a trainer and I work at a place that doesn't allow Maven or Gradle. I want to take the simplest possible approach. Maven has the jars, but no details of what jars I need - Spring used to bundle the jars in the past. I gather from your answer I am correct and its not feasible to use Spring without Maven. – resigned Oct 20 '13 at 19:32
  • The simplest approach possible is to use a build tool. That's why Spring does what it does. Regardless, I provided the solution. Go to Maven Central to download the jars one by one (and their dependencies). That isn't the same as "using Maven." – Vidya Oct 20 '13 at 19:38
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    I asked for a solution without using Maven - that includes going to Maven and downloading jars 1 by 1 - definitely not a simple approach! – resigned Oct 20 '13 at 19:40
  • It's quite simple--just mind-numbingly time consuming. Also, you are conflating going to a Maven repository with "using Maven." That's simply incorrect. My Gradle builds grab jars from Maven repositories. That doesn't mean I'm using Maven. – Vidya Oct 20 '13 at 19:43
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    I appreciate your reply. Dissapointing, but I'll mark your answer correct – resigned Oct 20 '13 at 21:41
  • Appreciate that. Good luck with your project! – Vidya Oct 20 '13 at 23:39
  • I've been using Python of late - its so much easier to use than Java/Spring/Maven. – resigned Apr 03 '14 at 23:28
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    The OP asked for a Maven free solution, and vented some spleen about Maven. Ignore the venting and don't argue about into why OP does not like Maven - who cares? Everybody has a preference. Just provide a url - http://repo.spring.io/release/org/springframework/ – NullPumpkinException Sep 09 '14 at 06:06
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    Maybe English isn't your first language, but for whatever reason you completely misunderstood the discussion. The OP "vented spleen" about needing to use *any* build tool to get Spring to work. In other words, his problem wasn't with Maven but with *Spring*. I answered his question about why Spring does things the way they do; manually fetching transitive dependencies is cumbersome and error-prone. But yes it can be done with the link you provided, although @borei provided the same link 8 months ago. – Vidya Sep 09 '14 at 18:53
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That's funny. It seems everyone wants you to use a dependency management tool. You can always browse a maven repository and download the parts you need:

http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework

Robert Moskal
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    What do I need for Spring MVC - where is it documented. And please don't tell me its in a POM! – resigned Oct 20 '13 at 19:33
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    Check it out: http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-webmvc/3.2.4.RELEASE I don't think you need all the things it claims to depend on. Start with the spring ones. I really am surprised there doesn't appear to be any prepackaged version available for download. – Robert Moskal Oct 21 '13 at 20:11
  • Am I the only idiot that can't figure out where the download links are on the Maven repository artifact pages? – Rebeccah Jun 29 '16 at 23:10