Unlike p2 update sites Maven repositories became the de-facto standard for dependency management in Java development. Combining Eclipse RCP frontends with backends based on micro services you will typically need to use libraries in OSGi and non-OSGi projects.
At SBB it took us almost three years to migrate from a target platform based on several P2 update sites towards the newly integrated m2e feature of using Maven artefacts. Consuming 3rd party libraries has always been a struggle. Especially when taking non-OSGi compliant jars and an extensive branching model into account. M2E lets us use standard Maven artefacts in our target platform taking away all the previous hassle.
This talk will describe our migration path towards using Maven artefacts in our target platform. We also stumbled over a few pitfalls, which's solutions will be added to the talk. This presentation is an experience report as well as an instruction guide to deal with target platforms in 2022.
