External Components as First Class Model Elements

ExternalComponentsAsFirstClassElements.gradle

model {

  components {

    // External components are modeled just like internal ones.
    mavenLibrary 'collections' {
      org 'com.acme'
      version '1.0'
    }

    // And thus can be required just like any other component
    jvmLibrary 'consumer' {
      requires 'collections'
    }

    // By treating external components as first class we open the door
    // for further extension, for example, we could decide to build
    // the same external component directly from a specific github commit
    // with a hypothetical `github-components` plugin that exposes a
    // `githubLibrary` component constructor.
    githubLibrary 'collections' {
      repository 'acme/collections'
      commit 'abbacada'
    }
    
    // Later on we might even decide to implement 'collections' locally.
    jvmLibrary 'collections' { 
    }

    // And consuming libraries would remain oblivious to these changes on how
    // the external component is actually produced.
    jvmLibrary 'foo' {
      requires 'collections'
    }

    jvmLibrary 'bar' {
      requires 'collections'
    }
    
    // org:name:version acts a shorthand version for
    // defining and requiring an external component in
    // a single step
    jvmLibrary 'baz' {
      // This will implicitly create a external component and require it
      requires 'com.acme:collections:2.0'
    }
  }
}