Weakness of "requires public"

[Paul Benedict]

In a modularized world, I don't see "requires public" delivering the value
it should.

Let's take this example:
module java.sql {
    requires public java.logging;
    requires public java.xml;
    exports java.sql;
    exports javax.sql;
    exports javax.transaction.xa;
}

Given a theoretical Maven POM representing the "java.sql" module, the POM
would have to list out the other two modules so that my project compiles
against all declared modules. It is considered bad practice to compile
against artifacts I did not declare in my POM. There are three artifacts
here.

Would any Maven experts here disagree? I see the positive of "requires
public" to be negated in build systems. Given what I just found, I do not
like the idea of public transitive dependencies in the Module Descriptor.
For developers using build systems, I believe "requires public" should be
avoided.

Cheers,
Paul