Efficient Working with Maven: 24 Commands and Options Overview

Introduction

Maven is one of the most popular tools for project and dependency management in Java applications. It provides a variety of commands and options that can assist you in your daily tasks. In this cheat sheet, we use a sample project to demonstrate some useful Maven commands. Originally written for OpenJDK 13.0.1 and Maven 3.6.3, these commands have been verified with OpenJDK 19.0.1 and Maven 3.8.7.

1. `mvn clean`

With this command, you can clean the Maven project by deleting the `target` directory:

mvn clean

2. `mvn compiler:compile`

This command compiles the Java source classes of the Maven project:

mvn compiler:compile

3. `mvn compiler:testCompile`

This command compiles the test classes of the Maven project:

mvn compiler:testCompile

4. `mvn package`

This command builds the Maven project and packages it into a JAR, WAR, etc.:

mvn package

5. `mvn install`

This command builds the Maven project and installs the project files (JAR, WAR, pom.xml, etc.) to the local repository:

mvn install

6. `mvn deploy`

This command deploys the artifact to the remote repository. This requires proper configuration of the remote repository in the project’s `code>pom.xml` file and providing authentication details in Maven’s `settings.xml` file.

mvn deploy

7. `mvn validate`

This command validates the Maven project to ensure that everything is correct and all the necessary information is available:

mvn validate

8. `mvn dependency:tree`

Generates the dependency tree of the Maven project:

mvn dependency:tree

9. `mvn dependency:analyze`

This command analyzes the Maven project to identify unused declared and used undeclared dependencies:

mvn dependency:analyze

10. `mvn archetype:generate`

Generates skeleton Maven projects of different types, such as JAR, web application, Maven site, etc.:

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mvn archetype:generate

11. `mvn site:site`

Generates a site for the project:

mvn site:site

12. `mvn test`

This command runs the test cases of the project:

mvn test

13. `mvn compile<`

Compiles the source Java classes of the project:

mvn compile

14. `mvn verify`

Builds the project, runs all the test cases, and checks the results of integration tests to ensure quality criteria are met:

mvn verify

15. `mvn -help`

Displays the Maven command line and all available options:

mvn -help

16. `mvn -f dir/pom.xml package`

Builds a project from a different location:

mvn -f dir/pom.xml package

17. `mvn -o package`

Runs the Maven build in offline mode:

mvn -o package

18. `mvn -q package`

mvn -q package

19. `mvn -X package`

Displays the Maven version and runs the build in debug mode, showing all messages:

mvn -X package

20. `mvn -v`

Displays the Maven version information:

mvn -v

21. `mvn -V package`

Displays the Maven version and continues with the build:

mvn -V package

22. `mvn -DskipTests package`

Skips the execution of unit tests during the build:

mvn -DskipTests package

23. `mvn -Dmaven.test.skip=true package`

Also skips the execution of test cases:

mvn -Dmaven.test.skip=true package

24. `mvn -T 4 clean install`

Executes the build with parallel threads to reduce build time:

mvn -T 4 clean install