Index: C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseClasspathWriter.java
===================================================================
--- C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseClasspathWriter.java	(revision 438448)
+++ C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseClasspathWriter.java	(working copy)
@@ -137,9 +137,10 @@
         // Source roots and resources
         // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-        for ( int j = 0; j < config.getSourceDirs().length; j++ )
+        EclipseSourceDir[] sourceDirs = config.getSourceDirs();
+        for ( int j = 0; j < sourceDirs.length; j++ )
         {
-            EclipseSourceDir dir = config.getSourceDirs()[j];
+            EclipseSourceDir dir = sourceDirs[j];
 
             writer.startElement( ELT_CLASSPATHENTRY );
 
@@ -179,9 +180,11 @@
         // The dependencies
         // ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-        for ( int j = 0; j < config.getDeps().length; j++ )
+        // TODO if (..magic property equals orderDependencies..)
+        IdeDependency[] depsToWrite = config.getDepsOrdered();
+        for ( int j = 0; j < depsToWrite.length; j++ )
         {
-            IdeDependency dep = config.getDeps()[j];
+            IdeDependency dep = depsToWrite[j];
 
             if ( dep.isAddedToClasspath() )
             {
Index: C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseWriterConfig.java
===================================================================
--- C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseWriterConfig.java	(revision 438448)
+++ C:/home/holger/Projects/misc/maven-eclipse-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/eclipse/writers/EclipseWriterConfig.java	(working copy)
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package org.apache.maven.plugin.eclipse.writers;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
@@ -108,6 +110,25 @@
         this.deps = deps;
     }
 
+    public IdeDependency[] getDepsOrdered()
+    {
+        // TODO get the right comparator depending on orderDependencies={name,nearness..};
+        // if none specified it could use a NullComparator to reduce the number of
+        // conditions that have to be checked
+        Comparator depsByArtifactId = new Comparator()
+        {
+            public int compare(Object o1, Object o2)
+            {
+                return ((IdeDependency)o1).getArtifactId().compareTo(((IdeDependency)o2).getArtifactId());
+            }
+        };
+
+        IdeDependency[] orderedDeps = new IdeDependency[deps.length];
+        System.arraycopy(deps, 0, orderedDeps, 0, deps.length);
+        Arrays.sort(orderedDeps, depsByArtifactId);
+        return orderedDeps;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Getter for <code>eclipseProjectDir</code>.
      * @return Returns the eclipseProjectDir.