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Maven – POM File

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POM (Project Object Model) is an XML file that contains information about the project and configuration details used by Maven to build the project i.e. sourcecode location, project dependencies etc. This file must be named as pom.xml and placed under root folder of project. When executing a task or goal, maven reads the POM, gets the needed configuration information, then executes the goal.

Table of Contents

Super POM
Minimal POM Configuration
Default POM Configuration
POM Hierarchy

Super POM

POM files maintain a parent-child relationship between them. Any pom file, you create for your project will finally be extending this super pom file. From maven 2.2 onwards, this is super pom file content.

<project>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <name>Maven Default Project</name>
 
  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>Maven Repository Switchboard</name>
      <layout>default</layout>
      <url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
 
  <pluginRepositories>
    <pluginRepository>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>Maven Plugin Repository</name>
      <url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url>
      <layout>default</layout>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <releases>
        <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
    </pluginRepository>
  </pluginRepositories>
 
  <build>
    <directory>target</directory>
    <outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
    <finalName>${artifactId}-${version}</finalName>
    <testOutputDirectory>target/test-classes</testOutputDirectory>
    <sourceDirectory>src/main/java</sourceDirectory>
    <scriptSourceDirectory>src/main/scripts</scriptSourceDirectory>
    <testSourceDirectory>src/test/java</testSourceDirectory>
    <resources>
      <resource>
        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
      </resource>
    </resources>
    <testResources>
      <testResource>
        <directory>src/test/resources</directory>
      </testResource>
    </testResources>
  </build>
 
  <reporting>
    <outputDirectory>target/site</outputDirectory>
  </reporting>
 
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>release-profile</id>
 
      <activation>
        <property>
          <name>performRelease</name>
        </property>
      </activation>
 
      <build>
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <inherited>true</inherited>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
 
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <id>attach-sources</id>
                <goals>
                  <goal>jar</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
          <plugin>
            <inherited>true</inherited>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
 
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <id>attach-javadocs</id>
                <goals>
                  <goal>jar</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
          <plugin>
            <inherited>true</inherited>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
 
            <configuration>
              <updateReleaseInfo>true</updateReleaseInfo>
            </configuration>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
 
</project>

Few things to notice are:

  • Default repo is maven repository.
  • Default execution goal is ‘jar’.
  • Default source code location is src/main/java.
  • Default test code location is src/test/java.

Minimal POM Configuration

The minimal POM configuration for any Maven project is extremely simple, which is as follows:

<project>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.howtodoinjava</groupId>
  <artifactId>MavenExample</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.0</version>
</project>

It requires:

  • project root
  • modelVersion – should be set to 4.0.0
  • groupId – the id of the project’s group.
  • artifactId – the id of the artifact (project)
  • version – the version of the artifact under the specified group

You need to add your project specific configuration on top of this minimal pom. For rest the configuration, if not specified, maven will use defaults from super pom file.

Default POM Configuration

It depends on the type of archtype, you have selected. e.g. for a quickstart project, this is default generated pom.xml file.

<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">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>com.howtodoinjava.demo</groupId>
  <artifactId>MavenExamples</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>

  <name>MavenExamples</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  </properties>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

POM hierarchy

As mentioned earlier, POM files maintain a parent-child relationship between them. A child POM file inherits all the configuration elements from its parent POM file. This is how Maven sticks to its design philosophy, which is convention over configuration.

The pom file used by project is obtained by merging the project pom file, parent pom file (if any) and super pom file. This pom file is known as effective pom file.

To get the effective pom file used by project, type below command in project’s root folder:

$ mvn help:effective-pom

e.g. effective pom file default quickstart project will be:

<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">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.howtodoinjava.demo</groupId>
  <artifactId>MavenExamples</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>MavenExamples</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  </properties>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>Central Repository</name>
      <url>https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
  <pluginRepositories>
    <pluginRepository>
      <releases>
        <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
      </releases>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>Central Repository</name>
      <url>https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2</url>
    </pluginRepository>
  </pluginRepositories>
  <build>
    <sourceDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\src\main\java</sourceDirectory>
    <scriptSourceDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\src\main\scripts</scriptSourceDirectory>
    <testSourceDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\src\test\java</testSourceDirectory>
    <outputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\classes</outputDirectory>
    <testOutputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\test-classes</testOutputDirectory>
    <resources>
      <resource>
        <directory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\src\main\resources</directory>
      </resource>
    </resources>
    <testResources>
      <testResource>
        <directory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\src\test\resources</directory>
      </testResource>
    </testResources>
    <directory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target</directory>
    <finalName>MavenExamples-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</finalName>
    <pluginManagement>
      <plugins>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>1.3</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.2-beta-5</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.8</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.3.2</version>
        </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.5</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-clean</id>
            <phase>clean</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>clean</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.6</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-testResources</id>
            <phase>process-test-resources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>testResources</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>default-resources</id>
            <phase>process-resources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>resources</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-jar</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>jar</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>3.1</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-compile</id>
            <phase>compile</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>compile</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>default-testCompile</id>
            <phase>test-compile</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>testCompile</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.12.4</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-test</id>
            <phase>test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>test</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-install</id>
            <phase>install</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>install</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.7</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-deploy</id>
            <phase>deploy</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>deploy</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>3.3</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>default-site</id>
            <phase>site</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>site</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <outputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\site</outputDirectory>
              <reportPlugins>
                <reportPlugin>
                  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                  <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
                </reportPlugin>
              </reportPlugins>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>default-deploy</id>
            <phase>site-deploy</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>deploy</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <outputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\site</outputDirectory>
              <reportPlugins>
                <reportPlugin>
                  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                  <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
                </reportPlugin>
              </reportPlugins>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <configuration>
          <outputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\site</outputDirectory>
          <reportPlugins>
            <reportPlugin>
              <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
              <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
            </reportPlugin>
          </reportPlugins>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
  <reporting>
    <outputDirectory>c:\temp\MavenExamples\target\site</outputDirectory>
  </reporting>
</project>

Drop me your questions in comments section.

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