MavenProject.getDependencyArtifacts()[0].getFile()

[kwin]

In a mojo I evaluate the dependency artifact's files via MavenProject.getDependencyArtifacts()[0].getFile(). For dependencies which are Eclipse projects this sometimes returns

1. The path to the project's pom.xml and sometimes
2. The path to the target/classes folder for dependencies which are Eclipse projects

While I do understand the latter I am wondering why the path to the pom.xml is returned (for dependencies with type != pom). Is that a bug or a feature?

[kwin]

The logic seems to be in

m2e-core/org.eclipse.m2e.core/src/org/eclipse/m2e/core/internal/project/registry/EclipseWorkspaceArtifactRepository.java

Lines 84 to 102 in 5f94521

	if(!POM_EXTENSION.equals(extension)) {
	MavenProjectFacade facade = context.state.getProjectFacade(pom);
	IWorkspaceClassifierResolver resolver = MavenPlugin.getWorkspaceClassifierResolverManager().getResolver();
	IPath location = resolver.resolveClassifier(facade, classifier);
	if(location == null) {
	location = facade.getOutputLocation();
	}
	if(location != null) {
	IResource res = root.findMember(location);
	if(res != null) {
	file = res.getLocation();
	}
	}
	}
	return file.toFile();

. But to me returning the path to the pom.xml should never happen if extension is not pom but in fact this seems to be the fallback in case no better directory can be determined.

[kwin]

I opened #1730 to improve the situation.

[laeubi]

While I do understand the latter I am wondering why the path to the pom.xml is returned (for dependencies with type != pom). Is that a bug or a feature?

To "resolve" a workspace project maven requires an existing file. So if the project has no target/classes an arbitrary exiting file has to be returned.