maven

Apache Maven is a free, open-source build automation tool primarily for Java projects. It provides a uniform build system, dependency management, and project reporting, using a declarative approach that emphasizes convention over configuration. Maven is maintained by the Apache Software Foundation and distributed under the Apache License 2.0.

At the heart of Maven is the Project Object Model (POM), an XML file named pom.xml that describes the project, its coordinates (groupId, artifactId, version), its dependencies, plugins, build profiles, and packaging type. Maven uses these coordinates to locate artifacts in local and remote repositories and to manage transitive dependencies.

Maven enforces a standard directory layout and a multi-phase build lifecycle. The default lifecycle includes phases such as validate, compile, test, package, verify, install, and deploy, while there are separate lifecycles for cleaning and site generation. A project can declare plugins that implement goals to perform tasks during these phases. Dependency management and plugins enable customization of the build process without extensive scripting.

Dependencies and their versions are declared in the POM. Maven automatically downloads dependencies from repositories, caching them in a local repository. The default remote repository is Maven Central, but additional repositories can be configured. It supports transitive dependency resolution and conflict management, aiding consistent builds across environments.

Maven supports archetypes to generate new projects from templates and can manage multi-module projects with a parent POM that aggregates modules. It integrates with popular IDEs and continuous integration systems, and common commands include mvn package, mvn test, and mvn install. Settings in settings.xml control user-specific and global configuration.