View Source mix deps (Mix v1.18.0)

Lists all dependencies and their status.

Dependencies must be specified in the mix.exs file in one of the following formats:

{app, requirement}
{app, opts}
{app, requirement, opts}

Where:

  • app is an atom
  • requirement is a Version requirement or a regular expression
  • opts is a keyword list of options

For example:

{:plug, ">= 0.4.0"}
{:gettext, git: "https://github.com/elixir-lang/gettext.git", tag: "0.1"}
{:local_dependency, path: "path/to/local_dependency"}

By default, dependencies are fetched using the Hex package manager:

{:plug, ">= 0.4.0"}

By specifying such dependencies, Mix will automatically install Hex (if it wasn't previously installed) and download a package suitable to your project. Note Hex expects the dependency requirement to always be given and it will warn otherwise.

Mix also supports Git and path dependencies:

{:foobar, git: "https://github.com/elixir-lang/foobar.git", tag: "0.1"}
{:foobar, path: "path/to/foobar"}

And also in umbrella dependencies:

{:my_app, in_umbrella: true}

Path and in umbrella dependencies are automatically recompiled by the parent project whenever they change. While fetchable dependencies, like the ones using :git, are recompiled only when fetched/updated.

The dependencies' versions are expected to be formatted according to Semantic Versioning and the requirements must be specified as defined in the Version module.

Options

Below we provide a more detailed look into the available options.

Dependency definition options

  • :app - when set to false, does not read the app file for this dependency. By default, the app file is read

  • :env - the environment (as an atom) to run the dependency on. While your current project runs in :dev by default, dependencies defaults to :prod (except for :in_umbrella dependencies, see below)

  • :compile - a command (string) to compile the dependency; defaults to a mix, rebar or make command

  • :optional - marks the dependency as optional. In such cases, the current project will always include the optional dependency but any other project that depends on the current project won't be forced to use the optional dependency. However, if the other project includes the optional dependency on its own, the requirements and options specified here will also be applied. Optional dependencies will not be started by the application. You should consider compiling your projects with the mix compile --no-optional-deps --warnings-as-errors during test, to ensure your project compiles without warnings even if optional dependencies are missing

  • :only - the dependency is made available only in the given environments, useful when declaring dev- or test-only dependencies; by default the dependency will be available in all environments. The value of this option can either be a single environment (like :dev) or a list of environments (like [:dev, :test]). Keep in mind that your project runs in the :dev environment by default, however, all of your dependencies run in the :prod environment (unless the :env option above is given)

  • :targets - the dependency is made available only for the given targets. By default the dependency will be available in all targets. The value of this option can either be a single target (like :host) or a list of targets (like [:host, :rpi3])

  • :override - if set to true the dependency will override any other definitions of itself by other dependencies

  • :manager - Mix can also compile Rebar3 and makefile projects and can fetch sub dependencies of Rebar3 projects. Mix will try to infer the type of project but it can be overridden with this option by setting it to :mix, :rebar3, or :make. In case there are conflicting definitions, the first manager in the list above will be picked up. For example, if a dependency is found with :rebar3 as a manager in different part of the trees, :rebar3 will be automatically picked. You can find the manager by running mix deps and override it by setting the :override option in a top-level project.

  • :runtime - whether the dependency is part of runtime applications. If the :applications key is not provided in def application in your mix.exs file, Mix will automatically include all dependencies as a runtime application, except if runtime: false is given. Defaults to true.

  • :system_env - an enumerable of key-value tuples of binaries to be set as environment variables when loading or compiling the dependency

When a project is used as a dependency, it runs by default in the :prod environment. Therefore, if your project has dependencies that are only useful in development or testing, you want to specify those dependencies with the :only option above. You can also specify :optional dependencies in your project, which are not enforced upon users of your library, as outlined above. Finally, the lockfile (usually named mix.lock) is ignored when a project is used as a dependency.

Git options (:git)

  • :git - the Git repository URI
  • :github - a shortcut for specifying Git repos from GitHub, uses :git
  • :ref - the reference to checkout (may be a branch, a commit SHA or a tag)
  • :branch - the Git branch to checkout
  • :tag - the Git tag to checkout
  • :submodules - when true, initialize submodules for the repo
  • :sparse - checkout a single directory inside the Git repository and use it as your Mix dependency. Search "sparse Git checkouts" for more information.
  • :subdir (since v1.13.0) - search for the project in the given directory relative to the git checkout. This is similar to :sparse option but instead of a doing a sparse checkout it does a full checkout.
  • :depth (since v1.17.0) - creates a shallow clone of the Git repository, limiting the history to the specified number of commits. This can significantly improve clone speed for large repositories when full history is not needed. The value must be a positive integer, typically 1. When using :depth with :ref, a fully spelled hex object name (a 40-character SHA-1 hash) is required.

If your Git repository requires authentication, such as basic username:password HTTP authentication via URLs, it can be achieved via Git configuration, keeping the access rules outside of source control.

$ git config --global url."https://YOUR_USER:YOUR_PASS@example.com/".insteadOf "https://example.com/"

For more information, see the git config documentation: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config#Documentation/git-config.txt-urlltbasegtinsteadOf

Path options (:path)

  • :path - the path for the dependency
  • :in_umbrella - when true, sets a path dependency pointing to "../#{app}", sharing the same environment as the current application

Hex options (:hex)

See the Hex usage documentation for Hex options.

Deps task

mix deps task lists all dependencies in the following format:

APP VERSION (SCM) (MANAGER)
[locked at REF]
STATUS

For dependencies satisfied by Hex, REF is the package checksum.

For dependencies satisfied by git, REF is the commit object name, and may include branch or tag information.

It supports the following options:

  • --all - lists all dependencies, regardless of specified environment