Post#83.Running Maven

Running Maven

When you have installed Maven and have created a POM file and put the POM file in the root directory of your project, you can run Maven on your project.

Running Maven is done by executing the mvn command from a command prompt. When executing the mvn command you pass the name of a build life cycle, phase or goal to it, which Maven then executes. 

Here is an example:

mvn install

This command executes the build phase called install (part of the default build life cycle), which builds the project and copies the packaged JAR file into the local Maven repository. Actually, this command executes all build phases before install in the build phase sequence, before executing the installbuild phase.

You can execute multiple build life cycles or phases by passing more than one argument to the mvncommand. 

Here is an example:

 mvn clean install

This command first executes the clean build life cycle, which removes compiled classes from the Maven output directory, and then it executes the install build phase.

You can also execute a Maven goal (a subpart of a build phase) by passing the build phase and goal name concatenated with a : in between, as parameter to the Maven command. 

Here is an example:

mvn dependency:copy-dependencies

This command executes the copy-dependencies goal of the dependency build phase.