Ways to check for updates to alias dependencies

[robin-a-meade]

With maven projects, I like to use the versions:display-dependency-updates goal to see what updates are available. I also like how github's dependabot can send notifications about any out-dated dependencies it finds in a pom.xml file.

So, I thought maybe I could write a script that reads the alias definitions in the catalog and generates apom.xml file for each.

I'd then be able to do:

mvn -f <location of generated pom file> versions:display-dependency-updates

And if I commit the generated pom.xml files to the catalog repo, and configure dependabot.yml appropriately, I'd get notifications from dependabot.

I created a catalog repo to play around with this idea:

https://github.com/robin-a-meade/jbang-catalog

Another idea would be to teach dependabot about the jbang "package ecosystem" so that dependabot would read jbang-catalog.json files and understand the dependencies.

[quintesse]

That's really interesting! I think @maxandersen already has something working more or less for dependabot (or was it renovate?) that can check catalog files, but right now I can't find it.

[maxandersen]

Dependabot unfortunately seem to have shut down for extending their support for other approaches.

Renovate on the other hand can be "educated".

Try run: 'jbang init -t jbangcatalog@jbanghub mycatalog' and you'll get a project with a renovate.json that will find updates in //Deps and catalog script refs.

[robin-a-meade]

Thanks. It works!

I did:

jbang init -t jbanghub@jbanghub mycatalog

and then copied its .github/renovate.json file into my jbang-catalog repo and installed the Renovate app.

Works great!