I have a need to store some binary objects (ex: zip files) in a central repository that can be easily accessed by a build or deployment system. Both Chef and/or Docker need access to these binary objects in order to build out the environment needed for my application.
The binary objects are not code or libraries. They are purely a zip file of static resources (ex: gifs or help documentation/templates/etc, GeoIP database, etc). I need them somewhere centrally accessible so that my deployment system can easily retrieve them and explode them in the container/environment to make accessible to my application. At the moment, they are being hosted in a "raw" Nexus repo. But the problem with a raw repo is that there is no classification of artifacts/versioning/etc. So I am considering giving them all a GAV id and putting it in the Maven repo as a maven artifact. But is this poor practice? I've always considered Maven artifacts as "code-related" - that is artifacts that are the output of some code development. Could be compiled sources, javadocs, generated artifacts, etc. But putting in these static binaries just seems "wrong". However, I don't really see a good alternative. I realize that this "can" be done. I guess my question is rather "should" it be done? How is everyone else handling these types of resources? Thanks, Eric
