json-simple.jar is missing from spring boot war
<p>The <code>json-simple</code> jar is missing in packaged WAR because it is marked as <code>optional</code> in <code>spring-boot-starter-parent</code>, BUT I do include a dependency <code>gelfj</code> that declares <code>json-simple</code> as dependency..... example below (used with Maven <strong>3.3.3</strong>): </p>

<pre><code>&lt;project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"&gt;
  &lt;modelVersion&gt;4.0.0&lt;/modelVersion&gt;

  &lt;groupId&gt;com.giveandtake&lt;/groupId&gt;
  &lt;artifactId&gt;main&lt;/artifactId&gt;
  &lt;version&gt;0.0.1-SNAPSHOT&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;packaging&gt;war&lt;/packaging&gt;
  &lt;parent&gt;
    &lt;groupId&gt;org.springframework.boot&lt;/groupId&gt;
    &lt;artifactId&gt;spring-boot-starter-parent&lt;/artifactId&gt;
    &lt;version&gt;1.3.2.RELEASE&lt;/version&gt;
&lt;/parent&gt;

  &lt;name&gt;main&lt;/name&gt;
  &lt;url&gt;http://maven.apache.org&lt;/url&gt;

  &lt;properties&gt;
    &lt;project.build.sourceEncoding&gt;UTF-8&lt;/project.build.sourceEncoding&gt;
  &lt;/properties&gt;

  &lt;dependencies&gt;
    &lt;dependency&gt;
            &lt;groupId&gt;org.graylog2&lt;/groupId&gt;
            &lt;artifactId&gt;gelfj&lt;/artifactId&gt;
            &lt;version&gt;1.1.5&lt;/version&gt;
        &lt;/dependency&gt;
    &lt;dependency&gt;
    &lt;groupId&gt;org.springframework.boot&lt;/groupId&gt;
    &lt;artifactId&gt;spring-boot-starter-log4j&lt;/artifactId&gt;
    &lt;version&gt;1.2.3.RELEASE&lt;/version&gt;
&lt;/dependency&gt;
  &lt;/dependencies&gt;
&lt;/project&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>[1] when packaging war with maven 3.0.4 i get the json-simple inside war (without asking for the jar explicitly).</p>

<p>[2] when packaging with maven 3.3.x war i dont have this jar in my war(unless i explicitly ask for it) file.</p>

<p>which leaves me with these questions: </p>

<p><strong>Question 1</strong>: if i have ProjectX-->(Inherit)Spring-boot-Parent and also declare a dependency Y that has dependency for json-simple, shouldnt the dependency for simple-json be transitive into war and recognize that as not optional anymore?</p>

<p><strong>Question 2</strong>: why is the different results with different maven versions [maven bug? , searched for release notes but didnt find anything matching]</p>