[FIXED] Why maven is not able to download "SNAPSHOT" artifacts from azure artifacts repository? (Snapshot translation to timestamp is malfunctioning)

Issue

Maven is not able to download artifact when referred by version such as 'XXX-SNAPSHOT' but it is able to download every other dependency from it. It even download the SNAPSHOT if & only if I replace 'SNAPSHOT' by the real timestamp, for example, replace 155-SNAPSHOT by 155-20220224.175558-1.

We are hosting SNAPSHOTS and releases both under the same azur artifact feed. Any advice on how to approach/fix this missing snapshot translation to timestamp?

I wasn't able find the detailed documentation on how this snapshot translation mechanism works on client or server side, can anyone please point it to me?

 <dependency>
   <groupId>com.st.services.clients</groupId>
   <artifactId>st-ccs-web-service</artifactId>
   <!-- <version>155-SNAPSHOT</version> --><!-- not works -->
   <version>155-20220224.175558-1</version>
 </dependency>


 <repositories>
     <repository>
         <name>My Hosted Maven Repo Group</name>
         <id>maven-feed</id>
         <url>https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/my-org/my-project/_packaging/maven-feed/maven/v1
         </url>
         <releases>
             <enabled>true</enabled>
         </releases>
         <snapshots>
             <enabled>true</enabled>
             <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
         </snapshots>
     </repository>
 </repositories>

Solution

Not the outcome you were after, but,
Having also tried this myself, I think Azure DevOps simply does not support this.

There are a few aspects of Azure DevOps's Artifacts feature that doesn't entirely align with Maven/how Maven does things. Unfortunately, this appears to be one of them.

(An example of another is the management of timestamped snapshots of the same version as individual versions, which Sonatype Nexus can do but DevOps Artifacts cannot).

Answered By - ncgisudo
Answer Checked By - Pedro (JavaFixing Volunteer)