Automate dependency update mechanism

[toddjonker]

I am surprised that Gradle does not inherently support any kind of dependency update automation. AFAICT one must resort to third-party plugins to get any reporting of updatable libraries. In this age of increasing supply-chain security, this absence is distressing, to say the least.

There are a few options discoverable, but one that looks most interesting is at https://splitties.github.io/refreshVersions/ since it uses a .properties lockfile, which feels quite sensible and convenient.

[SharkBaitDLS]

We may also consider Dependabot which has Gradle support including Gradle lockfiles, and is nicely integrated with GitHub as a 1P product. I've had good experiences with it in personal projects.