Preface

Maven is the number one build tool used by developers, and it has been there for more than a decade. Maven stands out among other build tools due to its extremely extensible architecture, which is built on top of the concept convention over configuration. This, in fact, has made Maven the de-facto tool to manage and build Java projects. It's being used widely by many open source Java projects under the Apache Software Foundation, SourceForge, Google Code, and many more.

This book provides a step-by-step guide, showing the readers how to use Apache Maven in an optimal way to address enterprise build requirements. Following the book, readers will be able to gain a thorough understanding of the following key areas:

• How to get started with Apache Maven, applying Maven best practices in order to design a build system to improve a developer's productivity
• How to customize the build process to suit it exactly to your enterprise's needs by using appropriate Maven plugins, lifecycles, and archetypes
• How to troubleshoot build issues with greater confidence
• How to design the build in a way that avoids any maintenance nightmares with proper dependency management
• How to optimize Maven configuration settings
• How to build your own distribution archive using Maven assemblies