Dynamic loading of Maven artifacts at runtime

Question

At runtime my app would like to add functionality dynamically. We'd like to be able to download artifacts from a Maven repo, add them to the classpath, and use them without doing an app server restart. Possible?

I have come across Eclipse Aether, which give programmatic access to Maven repos. Now the missing piece is the dynamic classpath.

Answer 1

If you're not against using a commercial product, one option is LiveRebel

Answer 2

Aether from Sonatype is what you need. Try to use jcabi-aether, which is a wrapper around Aether:

File repo = this.session.getLocalRepository().getBasedir();
Collection<Artifact> deps = new Aether(this.getProject(), repo).resolve(
  new DefaultArtifact("junit", "junit-dep", "", "jar", "4.10"),
  JavaScopes.RUNTIME
);

All you need to know is a list of remote Maven repositories, a local repo location, and Maven coordinates of the artifact to start with.