To prevent version drift for a transitive dependency across Mule projects, where should you centralize dependency versions?

• A. Update each module individually
• B. Use dependencyManagement in the BOM
• C. Use a separate version file
• D. Inherit versions from the parent POM

Answer: (B)

Centralizing dependency versions through a BOM and dependencyManagement provides a single source of truth for versions across multiple Mule projects. In Maven, a BOM (Bill of Materials) is a POM that uses dependencyManagement to declare the versions of libraries. Each project imports that BOM, and in its own dependencies you omit the version (or rely on the managed version). As a result, all projects resolve the same version for a given transitive dependency, eliminating version drift when libraries are pulled in by different modules. This approach is easier to maintain: update the version in one place and all projects reflect the change. Other approaches either require touching every module, or rely on non-standard versioning files. Inheriting from a parent POM can help within a single multi-module build, but across separate Mule projects a shared BOM provides the consistent, centralized version control.