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Bug #206752 comment #6 notes that many library definitions in the IDE (for use from Ant projects) merely bundle standard open-source libraries which would not otherwise need to be in the installation. It would be nice to be able to define a library which just refers to Maven artifact coordinates, having those artifacts be downloaded (to the repository) if and when the library is ever used, with sources and javadoc attached as well. In other cases like bug #200107 comment #2, we would rather not register the library by default, but let it be defined in the above manner if and when a project with a broken reference to it is opened. The current technique of downloading an NBM with the library from AU is quite clumsy. We could in fact consider using this system for JUnit. It would also be great if Library Manager permitted a library based on Maven artifacts in this way to be customized naturally - by editing the coordinates rather than using a file chooser. This would make it easier to upgrade the version of a library. Of course the 'maven-pom' volume of any such library should be defined, so that if some module does attempt to add it as a dependency to a Maven project using ProjectClassPathModifier, it will be interpreted correctly. MavenIndexingOnePager has some old but still largely valid ideas.
Makes sense. As far as I remember P. Zajac implemented similar feature for NB 4.x.
This old bug may not be relevant anymore. If you can still reproduce it in 8.2 development builds please reopen this issue. Thanks for your cooperation, NetBeans IDE 8.2 Release Boss