Gradle Exclude Transitive Dependency Example

Gradle script downloads the JAR and the dependency JAR when gradle script run. This dependency is called transitive dependency. Gradle script downloads the JAR from maven central or any other location which we specify. Sometimes we come in the situation to exclude transitive dependency. The scenario can be like
1. JAR version of transitive dependency is not available
2. Dependency is not available in specified location
3. Dependency is not required in runtime or both in compile and runtime.

To exclude transitive dependency, we have two approach as below.
1. Exclude transitive dependency by configuration
2. Exclude transitive dependency by dependency

To understand exclusion of transitive dependency, find a simple gradle script.
build.gradle When we run the command gradle eclipse, we get the below Jar in eclipse classpath. Now we will see how to exclude the transitive dependency for any JAR.

Exclude Transitive Dependency by Configuration

Excluding Transitive Dependency by Configuration is preferable way. Using configuration we can exclude transitive dependency for module and group. Find the separate example of module and group. First find the example which will use module dependency as below. Run the command gradle eclipse, you will see that dom4j and its dependency JAR will not be available in classpath. Now find the example using group and module both. We can also use the syntax as below to exclude the transitive dependency.

Exclude Transitive Dependency by Dependency

To exclude the transitive dependency using Dependency will be done as below which filter JAR. In the example, I am using module and group both together, we can use separately too. The gradle script will filter module 'dom4j' and group 'org.jboss.logging' and its transitive dependency.