Abstract: Still using Maven as a build tool in your projects? If so, are you using it because you think it is a great tool, or just because you’ve always done it this way? Within 15 minutes we’ll share with you the reasons that made us ditch Maven and fall in love with our build tool again. Be aware though, after you’ve visited this quickie there is a big chance you’ll find yourself migrating all your projects tonight. Luckily, this is easier than you might think. Talk (quickie) of 15 minutes on 8th November 2018 at J-Fall 2018, the annual Dutch Java User Group (NLJUG) conference.

1. Why you should embrace
Gradle and ditch Maven
Gijs Leussink & Jorrit van der Ven

2. Jorrit van der Ven
Who we are:
@jorritvdven

3. Who we are:
Gijs Leussink
@Tubanter

4. Maven?? Gradle??
Gradle
- Since 2007
- Gradle Inc.
- Java, Groovy, C(++), JS, etc
- Graph of task dependencies
Maven
- Since 2004
- Apache Foundation
- Mainly for Java development
- Fixed linear phases

5. Speed

6. Faster with every release
Build cache
Compile avoidance
Incremental compilation
Daemon
Dependency resolution strategies
Parallel task execution

7. Speed.
42%faster
7153%faster
90%faster
https://gradle.org/maven-vs-gradle/

8. Speed.
42%faster
7153%faster
90%faster
https://gradle.org/maven-vs-gradle/

9. Build file

10. Comparison

11. Continuous builds

14. Build scan

15. Example
~/Projects/example$ gradle build --scan
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 0s
5 actionable tasks: 5 up-to-date
Publishing build scan...
https://gradle.com/s/wzrkhkqfl3sru

16. Timeline
Duration of each
build step

17. Build options

18. Dependencies
per build phase

19. Test failures

20. Why ditch Maven?

21. Why ditch Maven?
Familiarity not simplicity
Speed issue
Plugin writing
Internal model outdated – no modules
Outdated convention
Front-end?
Unreliable builds – mvn install needs clean!?

22. How to migrate?

23. So, how to ditch Maven and embrace Gradle?
~/Projects/maven-example$ gradle init
> Task :init
Maven to Gradle conversion is an incubating
feature.
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 2s
2 actionable tasks: 2 executed

24. Questions?
Thank you!

25. Play with it? Help yourself
Gradle guides:
▶ https://gradle.org/guides/
Guide Migrating from Maven to Gradle:
▶ https://guides.gradle.org/migrating-from-maven/
Gradle User Guide
▶ https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/userguide.html
Examples of Gradle builds:
▶ Junit 5 https://github.com/junit-team/junit5
▶ Gradle itself (Kotlin DSL) https://github.com/gradle/gradle
▶ Hibernate https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-orm
▶ Netflix’ Hystrix https://github.com/Netflix/Hystrix
Gradle tips & trics:
▶ https://mrhaki.blogspot.com/