Creating a zip archive of the maven “target” directory

maven-2pluginszip

I wish to create a zip archive of my "target" directory (${project.build.directory). using the maven-assembly-plugin seems to me like overkill for such a simple task (and a bit complicated – why must I use another file, the assembly descriptor, for such a task)
I can't locate the seemingly more simple maven-zip-plugin in the http://repo1.maven.org/maven2 repository.

Any input?

Best Answer

If the bin predefined assembly descriptor doesn't suit your needs, then you have three options:

Using the maven-assembly-plugin - The maven-zip-plugin never came out because the assembly plugin can do everything the zip plugin was doing, and more, see MNG-2243.
Using the maven-antrun-plugin (and maybe the build-helper-plugin to attach the zip) - There is an example here (and this looks more verbose than the assembly plugin at the end).
Writing your own plugin - why would you do this when you have the assembly plugin.

Personally, I would just use the maven-assembly-plugin with the following zip.xml descriptor:

<assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/assembly/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd">
  <id>bin</id>
  <baseDirectory>/</baseDirectory>
  <formats>
    <format>zip</format>
  </formats>
  <fileSets>
    <fileSet>
      <directory>${project.build.directory}</directory>
    </fileSet>
  </fileSets>
</assembly>

And in your POM:

<plugin>
  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>2.6</version>
  <configuration>
    <descriptors>
      <descriptor>src/main/assembly/zip.xml</descriptor>
    </descriptors>
  </configuration>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
      <phase>package</phase> <!-- append to the packaging phase. -->
      <goals>
        <goal>single</goal> <!-- goals == mojos -->
      </goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

Related Solutions

Java – How to tell Maven to use the latest version of a dependency

NOTE:

The mentioned LATEST and RELEASE metaversions have been dropped for plugin dependencies in Maven 3 "for the sake of reproducible builds", over 6 years ago. (They still work perfectly fine for regular dependencies.) For plugin dependencies please refer to this Maven 3 compliant solution.

If you always want to use the newest version, Maven has two keywords you can use as an alternative to version ranges. You should use these options with care as you are no longer in control of the plugins/dependencies you are using.

When you depend on a plugin or a dependency, you can use the a version value of LATEST or RELEASE. LATEST refers to the latest released or snapshot version of a particular artifact, the most recently deployed artifact in a particular repository. RELEASE refers to the last non-snapshot release in the repository. In general, it is not a best practice to design software which depends on a non-specific version of an artifact. If you are developing software, you might want to use RELEASE or LATEST as a convenience so that you don't have to update version numbers when a new release of a third-party library is released. When you release software, you should always make sure that your project depends on specific versions to reduce the chances of your build or your project being affected by a software release not under your control. Use LATEST and RELEASE with caution, if at all.

See the POM Syntax section of the Maven book for more details. Or see this doc on Dependency Version Ranges, where:

A square bracket ( [ & ] ) means "closed" (inclusive).
A parenthesis ( ( & ) ) means "open" (exclusive).

Here's an example illustrating the various options. In the Maven repository, com.foo:my-foo has the following metadata:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><metadata>
  <groupId>com.foo</groupId>
  <artifactId>my-foo</artifactId>
  <version>2.0.0</version>
  <versioning>
    <release>1.1.1</release>
    <versions>
      <version>1.0</version>
      <version>1.0.1</version>
      <version>1.1</version>
      <version>1.1.1</version>
      <version>2.0.0</version>
    </versions>
    <lastUpdated>20090722140000</lastUpdated>
  </versioning>
</metadata>

If a dependency on that artifact is required, you have the following options (other version ranges can be specified of course, just showing the relevant ones here):

Declare an exact version (will always resolve to 1.0.1):

<version>[1.0.1]</version>

Declare an explicit version (will always resolve to 1.0.1 unless a collision occurs, when Maven will select a matching version):

<version>1.0.1</version>

Declare a version range for all 1.x (will currently resolve to 1.1.1):

<version>[1.0.0,2.0.0)</version>

Declare an open-ended version range (will resolve to 2.0.0):

<version>[1.0.0,)</version>

Declare the version as LATEST (will resolve to 2.0.0) (removed from maven 3.x)

<version>LATEST</version>

Declare the version as RELEASE (will resolve to 1.1.1) (removed from maven 3.x):

<version>RELEASE</version>

Note that by default your own deployments will update the "latest" entry in the Maven metadata, but to update the "release" entry, you need to activate the "release-profile" from the Maven super POM. You can do this with either "-Prelease-profile" or "-DperformRelease=true"

It's worth emphasising that any approach that allows Maven to pick the dependency versions (LATEST, RELEASE, and version ranges) can leave you open to build time issues, as later versions can have different behaviour (for example the dependency plugin has previously switched a default value from true to false, with confusing results).

It is therefore generally a good idea to define exact versions in releases. As Tim's answer points out, the maven-versions-plugin is a handy tool for updating dependency versions, particularly the versions:use-latest-versions and versions:use-latest-releases goals.

Maven – Best practices for copying files with Maven

<build>
    <plugins>
        ...
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.3</version>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
    <resources>
        <resource>
            <directory>src/main/java</directory>
            <includes>
                <include> **/*.properties</include>
            </includes>
        </resource>
    </resources>
    ...
</build>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – How to tell Maven to use the latest version of a dependency

Maven – Best practices for copying files with Maven

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