Display dependency updates in Maven

When developing software, it is a good practice to always use the newest version of all dependencies. That way we benefit from the latest bug and security fixes. But looking frequently for updates manually would be an annoying task.

At least for projects build with Maven there is a quite handy, build-in solution. Run the following command in a shell located at your projects root folder:

mvn versions:display-dependency-updates

This will produce output similar to this one here:

[INFO] The following dependencies in Dependency Management have newer versions:
[INFO]   org.apache.commons:commons-lang3 ...... 3.0.0 -> 3.9.0
[INFO]   org.apache.commons:commons-text ........... 1.7 -> 1.8
[INFO]   io.springfox:springfox-swagger-ui...... 2.9.1 -> 2.9.2

Now you can edit your pom.xml file to use those new versions.

For more information about Maven’s versions:display-dependency-updates have a look here.