Packaging and Deployment

About

In a Maven build lifecycle, packaging and deployment plugins are responsible for producing distributable artifacts (like JAR, WAR, or EAR files) and moving them to the appropriate destinations — such as local/remote repositories, servers, or other deployment environments. These plugins play a critical role in transitioning code from build to runtime.

Maven JAR Plugin

Creates a JAR file from compiled .class files and resources in the target/ directory. This is the default packaging for standard Java applications.

Default Goal

jar:jar

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.3.0</version>
  <configuration>
    <archive>
      <manifest>
        <mainClass>com.example.MainApp</mainClass>
      </manifest>
    </archive>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

Useful Config Options

Option	Description
archive.manifest.mainClass	Sets the entry point class
excludes	Exclude specific files
includes	Include specific files

Maven WAR Plugin

Packages the web application into a WAR file for deployment to a servlet container like Tomcat.

Default Goal

war:war

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.4.0</version>
  <configuration>
    <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
    <webResources>
      <resource>
        <directory>src/main/webapp</directory>
      </resource>
    </webResources>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

Useful Config Options

Option	Description
failOnMissingWebXml	For servlet 3.0+, disables need for web.xml
webResources	Add custom web assets
packagingExcludes	Exclude specific files from WAR

Maven Assembly Plugin

Creates custom distributions like ZIP, TAR, or executable JARs with dependencies.

Common Goals

Goal	Description
single	Creates one packaged archive

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.6.0</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>package</phase>
      <goals><goal>single</goal></goals>
      <configuration>
        <descriptorRefs>
          <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
        </descriptorRefs>
        <archive>
          <manifest>
            <mainClass>com.example.MainApp</mainClass>
          </manifest>
        </archive>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

Descriptor Refs

• jar-with-dependencies

• project

• bin

• src

Maven Deploy Plugin

Uploads your artifact (JAR, WAR, etc.) to a remote Maven repository for sharing with others.

Default Goal

deploy:deploy

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.1.1</version>
  <configuration>
    <altDeploymentRepository>my-repo::default::https://repo.example.com/releases</altDeploymentRepository>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

Repository Credentials

Defined in ~/.m2/settings.xml under <servers> tag.

Maven Install Plugin

Installs the artifact into your local Maven repository (~/.m2/repository), so it can be used as a dependency by other local projects.

Default Goal

install:install

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.1.1</version>
</plugin>

No special configuration is required unless we're customizing the artifact or installing non-built JARs.

Maven Shade Plugin

Creates an uber/fat JAR by including all dependencies, and allows filtering, renaming, and relocating classes to avoid conflicts.

Common Goal

shade:shade

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.5.0</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>package</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>shade</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <createDependencyReducedPom>true</createDependencyReducedPom>
        <transformers>
          <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
            <mainClass>com.example.MainApp</mainClass>
          </transformer>
        </transformers>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>