Central repository containing bad pom and missing artifact

• Group ID:

  javax.xml.soap
• Artifact ID:

  saaj-api
• Version:

  1.3

I have a pom with the following dependency:
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.xml.soap</groupId>
<artifactId>saaj-api</artifactId>
<version>1.3</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>

This artifact is located in the maven central repository:
http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/javax/xml/soap/saaj-api/1.3

When Maven tries to download this artifact, it also tries to download the transitive dependency and fails with the following missing artifact:

Missing:
----------
1) javax.activation:activation:jar:1.0.2

Try downloading the file manually from:
http://java.sun.com/products/javabeans/glasgow/jaf.html

Then, install it using the command:
mvn install:install-file -DgroupId=javax.activation -DartifactId=activation -Dversion=1.0.2 -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=/path/to/file

Alternatively, if you host your own repository you can deploy the file there:
mvn deploy:deploy-file -DgroupId=javax.activation -DartifactId=activation -Dversion=1.0.2 -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=/path/to/file -Durl=[url] -DrepositoryId=[id]

Path to dependency:
1) maven.test:saaj-dependency:jar:1.0
2) javax.xml.soap:saaj-api:jar:1.3
3) javax.activation:activation:jar:1.0.2

----------
1 required artifact is missing.

for artifact:
maven.test:saaj-dependency:jar:1.0

from the specified remote repositories:
central (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2)

If you take a look at http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/activation/activation/1.0.2/, it's missing the jar.

The correct dependency in saaj-api should be:

<dependency>
<!-- 1.0.2 would do, but that's not available in the repository -->
<groupId>javax.activation</groupId>
<artifactId>activation</artifactId>
<version>1.1</version>
</dependency>