diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 5e43444..015c96b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     - $HOME/.m2
 install: echo NOOP Skipping pre-fetch of Maven dependencies
 jdk:
-  - openjdk8
+  - openjdk11
 before_script:
   - unset _JAVA_OPTIONS
 env:
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6054472..6f9aac9 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
     <url>https://travis-ci.org/apache/accumulo-maven-plugin</url>
   </ciManagement>
   <properties>
-    <accumulo.version>2.0.0-SNAPSHOT</accumulo.version>
+    <accumulo.version>2.0.0</accumulo.version>
     <eclipseFormatterStyle>contrib/Eclipse-Accumulo-Codestyle.xml</eclipseFormatterStyle>
     <!-- extra release args for testing -->
     <extraReleaseArguments />
@@ -119,6 +119,13 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.accumulo</groupId>
       <artifactId>accumulo-minicluster</artifactId>
       <version>${accumulo.version}</version>
+      <exclusions>
+        <exclusion>
+          <!-- for some reason, hibernate in the accumulo-monitor brings this in -->
+          <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
+          <artifactId>javafx.base</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
+      </exclusions>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
@@ -190,10 +197,9 @@
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
           <!-- newer version than in apache-21.pom -->
-          <version>3.1.0</version>
+          <version>3.1.1</version>
           <configuration>
             <quiet>true</quiet>
-            <javadocVersion>1.8.0</javadocVersion>
             <additionalJOption>-J-Xmx512m</additionalJOption>
             <doclint>all,-missing</doclint>
           </configuration>
@@ -218,7 +224,7 @@
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
           <!-- newer version than in apache-21.pom -->
-          <version>3.7.1</version>
+          <version>3.8.2</version>
           <configuration>
             <skipDeploy>true</skipDeploy>
           </configuration>
@@ -271,7 +277,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>com.github.spotbugs</groupId>
         <artifactId>spotbugs-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>${spotbugs.version}</version>
+        <version>${spotbugs.version}.1</version>
         <configuration>
           <xmlOutput>true</xmlOutput>
           <effort>Max</effort>
@@ -409,7 +415,7 @@
           <dependency>
             <groupId>com.puppycrawl.tools</groupId>
             <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
-            <version>8.22</version>
+            <version>8.23</version>
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <executions>
@@ -439,46 +445,26 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
-        <dependencies>
-          <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-            <artifactId>animal-sniffer-enforcer-rule</artifactId>
-            <version>1.18</version>
-          </dependency>
-        </dependencies>
         <executions>
           <execution>
-            <id>enforce-basic-rules</id>
+            <!-- must be same id as in the apache parent pom, to override the version -->
+            <id>enforce-maven-version</id>
             <goals>
               <goal>enforce</goal>
             </goals>
             <phase>validate</phase>
             <configuration>
               <rules>
+                <requireMavenVersion>
+                  <!-- org.apache.felix:maven-bundle-plugin declares that it needs 3.5.0 -->
+                  <version>[3.5.0,)</version>
+                </requireMavenVersion>
                 <requireJavaVersion>
-                  <version>[${maven.compiler.target},)</version>
+                  <version>[11,)</version>
                 </requireJavaVersion>
               </rules>
             </configuration>
           </execution>
-          <execution>
-            <id>enforce-java-signatures</id>
-            <goals>
-              <goal>enforce</goal>
-            </goals>
-            <phase>process-test-classes</phase>
-            <configuration>
-              <rules>
-                <checkSignatureRule implementation="org.codehaus.mojo.animal_sniffer.enforcer.CheckSignatureRule">
-                  <signature>
-                    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo.signature</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>java18</artifactId>
-                    <version>1.0</version>
-                  </signature>
-                </checkSignatureRule>
-              </rules>
-            </configuration>
-          </execution>
         </executions>
       </plugin>
       <plugin>
@@ -619,7 +605,7 @@
           <plugin>
             <groupId>net.revelc.code</groupId>
             <artifactId>impsort-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>1.2.0</version>
+            <version>1.3.0</version>
             <configuration>
               <removeUnused>true</removeUnused>
               <groups>java.,javax.,org.,com.</groups>
@@ -643,6 +629,10 @@
           <name>m2e.version</name>
         </property>
       </activation>
+      <properties>
+        <!-- add compiler compliance to Eclipse -->
+        <maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
+      </properties>
       <build>
         <pluginManagement>
           <plugins>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/AbstractAccumuloMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/AbstractAccumuloMojo.java
index 2689090..01e62a1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/AbstractAccumuloMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/AbstractAccumuloMojo.java
@@ -30,7 +30,12 @@
   @Parameter(defaultValue = "${project}", readonly = true)
   private MavenProject project;
 
-  @Parameter(defaultValue = "false", alias = "skip", property = "accumulo.skip", required = true)
+  /**
+   * Instructs this plugin to skip execution.
+   *
+   * @since 1.0.0
+   */
+  @Parameter(defaultValue = "false", alias = "skip", property = "accumulo.skip", required = false)
   private boolean skip;
 
   protected boolean shouldSkip() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/StartMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/StartMojo.java
index b40cbcd..ad39045 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/StartMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/maven/plugin/StartMojo.java
@@ -40,20 +40,63 @@
     requiresDependencyResolution = ResolutionScope.TEST)
 public class StartMojo extends AbstractAccumuloMojo {
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies the output directory in which this plugin will create files for its runtime use. This
+   * plugin will create a client properties file inside a subdirectory named after this plugin and
+   * the specified instance name. This property defaults to your Maven target directory.
+   *
+   * <p>
+   * For example: <code>${outputDirectory}/accumulo2-maven-plugin/instanceName</code>
+   *
+   * <p>
+   * The client properties file can be used to construct an Accumulo client in your test code like:
+   *
+   * <code>
+   * <pre>
+   * String instanceName = "plugin-it-instance";
+   * String outputDir = "target";
+   * File propsFile = new File(outputDir + "/accumulo2-maven-plugin/" + instanceName);
+   * Properties props = MiniAccumuloCluster.getClientProperties(propsFile);
+   * AccumuloClient client = Accumulo.newClient().from(props).build();
+   * </pre>
+   * </code>
+   *
+   * @since 1.0.0
+   */
   @Parameter(defaultValue = "${project.build.directory}", alias = "outputDirectory",
       property = "accumulo.outputDirectory", required = true)
   private File outputDirectory;
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies the instance name the Accumulo instance will use for itself, which clients use to
+   * connect. It is also used to create the working directory for MiniAccumuloCluster, which will
+   * contain the client properties file which clients can use to connect. See
+   * <a href="#outputDirectory">{@link #outputDirectory}</a>.
+   *
+   * @since 1.0.0
+   */
   @Parameter(defaultValue = "testInstance", alias = "instanceName",
       property = "accumulo.instanceName", required = true)
   private String instanceName;
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies the root user's initial password for clients to connect and perform additional
+   * operations.
+   *
+   * @since 1.0.0
+   */
   @Parameter(defaultValue = "secret", alias = "rootPassword", property = "accumulo.rootPassword",
-      required = true)
+      required = false)
   private String rootPassword;
 
+  /**
+   * Specifies the client port on which ZooKeeper listens. If not specified, MiniAccumuloCluster
+   * will select an available port on its own.
+   *
+   * @since 1.0.0
+   */
   @Parameter(defaultValue = "0", alias = "zooKeeperPort", property = "accumulo.zooKeeperPort",
-      required = true)
+      required = false)
   private int zooKeeperPort;
 
   static Set<MiniAccumuloCluster> runningClusters = Collections.synchronizedSet(new HashSet<>());
diff --git a/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm b/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
index bb938fc..8c0f5b3 100644
--- a/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
+++ b/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@
   single node instance of Apache Accumulo 2.x in order for you to run your
   project's integration tests against a live version of Accumulo.
 
+  This version of the plugin uses
+  `accumulo-minicluster-$context.get("accumulo.version")`. This version [can
+  be overridden similar to overriding checkstyle versions][2] by a later 2.x
+  version. Because Accumulo follows [Semantic Versioning][3], and this plugin
+  limits itself to using only public API, this should work if you meet the
+  dependency requirements of that version (accumulo-minicluster-2.1.0 will
+  require Java 11, for example).
+
 Getting Started
 ---------------
 
@@ -63,4 +71,5 @@
 `integration-test` phase to perform its integration tests.
 
 [1]: https://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-the-lifecycle.html
-
+[2]: https://blog.sonatype.com/2008/04/how-to-override-a-plugins-dependency-in-maven/
+[3]: https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html
diff --git a/src/site/site.xml b/src/site/site.xml
index 5f4dc22..4b49568 100644
--- a/src/site/site.xml
+++ b/src/site/site.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
   <skin>
     <groupId>org.apache.maven.skins</groupId>
     <artifactId>maven-fluido-skin</artifactId>
-    <version>1.7</version>
+    <version>1.8</version>
   </skin>
   <custom>
     <fluidoSkin>
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
   </custom>
   <body>
     <menu name="Overview">
+      <item name="Accumulo Home" href="../"/>
       <item name="Introduction" href="index.html"/>
       <item name="Goals" href="plugin-info.html"/>
     </menu>