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Maven Assemble and Distribute Artifacts FAQ

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How to assemble an application

The official docs should be sufficient, see the maven-assembly-plugin. If applicable, prefer to use the predefined descriptors.

Example: How to create an executable jar with all run-time dependencies included

See the jar-with-dependencies descriptor. For your convenience a working configuration is shown below: 

<properties>
  <packageName>no.objectware.projectName</packageName>
  <mainClass>${packageName}.MainClassName</mainClass>
</properties>
<build>
  <plugins>
     <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.2-beta-1</version>
        <configuration>
          <finalName>${pom.artifactId}</finalName>
          <descriptorRefs>
            <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
          </descriptorRefs>
          <archive>
            <manifest>
              <mainClass>${mainClass}</mainClass>
              <packageName>${packageName}</packageName>
              <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
            </manifest>
            <manifestEntries>
              <mode>development</mode>
            </manifestEntries>
          </archive>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>packageWithDependencies</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>assembly</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>
Example: How to create an assembly with custom descriptor

  1. Add a reference to an assembly descriptor. 

    <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.2-beta-1</version>
        <configuration>
          <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assemblydescriptor.xml</descriptor>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>createBinaryArchive</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>assembly</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

  2. Create an assembly descriptor

How to use a zip file to share resources between projects?

See How to use a zip file to share resources between projects

How to deploy to an application container?

Do not confuse deploy to an application container with Maven's deploy phase. Maven deploy means installing an artifact in a non-local Maven repository (e.g. the company repository). The typical use case for this kind of setup is if you want to deploy the application in a testing environment to allow others to test the newest development version of the application. 1. Copy the application manually or use the maven-antrun-plugin with the copy task. 1. Use Cargo - If on tomcat; tomcat-maven-plugin can be used as well. 1. Make the maven-war-plugin output the final war file to a folder that e.g. tomcat listens to. 

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
  <configuration>
    <outputDirectory>/var/www/tomcatHome/app</outputDirectory>
  </configuration>
</plugin>
1. Run with custom scripts with exec-maven-plugin. See Deploying to GlassFish using Maven2 for an example.

How to use Java WebStart

See Maven Webstart - static website