How to create SBOMs in Java with Maven and Gradle

Software bills of materials (SBOMs) provide an inventory of first-party components, third-party libraries, and transitive dependencies in Java applications, improving transparency, license awareness, and vulnerability assessment for customers and software suppliers. They differ from Maven BOM files, which centrally manage compatible dependency versions rather than documenting an application's complete contents. SPDX and CycloneDX are the principal SBOM standards: SPDX is an ISO-recognized format covering provenance, licensing, and supply-chain information, while OWASP’s CycloneDX focuses on security and component analysis and supports formats including XML and JSON. Because Java build tools resolve dependencies during compilation and packaging, SBOM generation is best integrated into release builds or CI pipelines. The CycloneDX plugins for Maven and Gradle can automatically produce detailed XML and JSON SBOMs that include direct and transitive dependencies, hashes, licenses, and related metadata. Maven also has an experimental SPDX plugin that may omit transitive dependencies, making the SPDX SBOM Generator CLI a more suitable current alternative, while Gradle lacks a reliable SPDX generation option.

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