Start using Ant Ivy for external dependency management
We're using various external dependencies in our code bases, from Logback for logging to embedded Jetty as our web server. In the past we relied on Debian stable to provide relevant library files in /usr/share/java/.
However, the manual upgrade to libraries found in the new Debian stable version buster has turned out to be harder than expected. This is also due to us still using JSPs which requires rather unusual libraries. Apart from this, having to add dependencies (and their dependencies) manually prevents us from adding other useful tools and libraries. In short, we need a better process for managing external dependencies.
We discussed last week that we'd try out Ant Ivy for this purpose, despite the fact that it doesn't look as well maintained as other alternatives. But the changes to our current build process would be minimal, as compared to switching to Gradle or Maven.
Assigning this ticket to myself, as I have already started working on this and am planning to finish this work soon.