# build-helper-maven-plugin

## About

It is a useful Maven plugin provided by the Mojo project **"org.codehaus.mojo"**. It helps in managing various aspects of the build process. Some of the ways in which it helps is given below.

* Add more source directories to the project
* Add more test source directories to your project
* Add more resource directories to your project
* Attach additional artifacts to your project
* Access the parsed components of a project version (properties then can be used in other parts of the Maven build or in the POM configuration)
* Resolve the latest released version of a project
* Remove a project's artifacts from local repository
* Reserve a list of random and unused network ports
* Retrieve current host IP address
* Retrieve current hostname
* Retrieve available number of CPUs

Visit the official documentation for more details - <https://www.mojohaus.org/build-helper-maven-plugin/usage.html>

**Example 1**: Adding source and test directories to the build path.

<figure><img src="https://3632859567-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FPd6ktrA5pPLsZJktj2fm%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-7d62d34eaeba209b83f9578c29d6b44b8a69bf2f%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="" width="330"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

```xml
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
    <artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <executions>
        <!-- Add more source directories from target folder to the project -->
        <execution>
            <id>add-build-sources</id>
            <phase>generate-sources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>add-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <sources>
                    <source>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources</source>
                </sources>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
        <!-- Add more source directories from main-2 folder to the project -->
        <execution>
            <id>add-main-2-sources</id>
            <phase>generate-sources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>add-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <sources>
                    <source>${basedir}/src/main-2/java</source>
                </sources>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
        <!-- Add more resource directories from main-2 folder to the project -->
        <execution>
            <id>add-main-2-resources</id>
            <phase>generate-resources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>add-resource</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <resources>
                    <resource>
                        <directory>${basedir}/src/main-2/resources</directory>
                        <targetPath>resources</targetPath>
                        <excludes>
                            <exclude>**/junk/**</exclude>
                        </excludes>
                    </resource>
                </resources>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
        <!-- Add more test source directories from test-2 folder to the project -->
        <execution>
            <id>add-test-2-sources</id>
            <phase>generate-test-sources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>add-test-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <sources>
                    <source>${basedir}/src/test-2/java</source>
                </sources>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
        <!-- Add more test resource directories from test-2 folder to the project -->
        <execution>
            <id>add-test-2-resource</id>
            <phase>generate-test-resources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>add-test-resource</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <resources>
                    <resource>
                        <directory>${basedir}/src/test-2/resources</directory>
                        <targetPath>resources</targetPath>
                        <excludes>
                            <exclude>**/junk/**</exclude>
                        </excludes>
                    </resource>
                </resources>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>
```

> Run `mvn clean compile` or click on load maven changes button in Intellij in pom.xml file to reflect the changes.
>
> <img src="https://3632859567-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FPd6ktrA5pPLsZJktj2fm%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-7cf72e5e007b2d93b927f638b0dd789df05fafe3%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="" data-size="original">