Maven Plugins

Maven plugins are essential components in the Apache Maven build system, designed to extend its functionality. They perform tasks such as compilation, testing, packaging, deployment, and others.

• Maven plugins execute predefined goals like compile, test, package, and deploy.
• They are configured in the POM (Project Object Model) file under the <plugins> section.
• Plugins support customization through configurations to suit project-specific requirements.

Types of Maven Plugins

Maven plugins are categorized based on their role in building the project and generating reports.

1. Build Plugins

These plugins are executed during the build process, and they are defined in the <build> section in the pom.xml file. For example, the Compiler Plugin, Surefire Plugin, and Assembly Plugin.

Common Build Plugins:

• Compiler Plugin: Compiles Java source code into bytecode.
• Surefire Plugin: Runs unit tests using frameworks like JUnit or TestNG.
• Failsafe Plugin: Executes integration tests, typically for verifying larger system components.
• JAR Plugin: Packages compiled code into a JAR (Java Archive) file.
• WAR Plugin: Creates a WAR (Web Archive) file for web applications.
• Assembly Plugin: Builds custom distributions, such as ZIP files containing project artifacts.
• Spring Boot Maven Plugin: Packages Spring Boot applications into executable JARs or WARs.

2. Reporting Plugins

These plugins are used for generating reports about the project. These are defined in the <reporting> section in the pom.xml file. Examples include the Surefire Report Plugin for generating test reports and the Javadoc Plugin for generating API documentation.

Examples: Here, we created a sample Maven project with the required project dependencies using the Spring Tool Suite IDE.

Example 1: Build Plugins

Here we created a Maven project with basic dependencies. Below we provide the pom file for your reference.

<build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

Example 2: Reporting Plugins

And here, we use java doc reporting plugin for generating project report.

<reporting>
        <plugins>
            <!-- Javadoc Plugin -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.3.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.8</source>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </reporting>

Redirect to maven project by using command prompt after this run below command,

mvn javadoc:javadoc