src/site/apt/index.apt

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  Maven Forked Invocation API - Overview
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  John Casey
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  31-May-2006

Maven Forked Invocation API - Overview

* Introduction

  In many cases, tools (including Maven itself) may want to fire off a Maven
  build in a clean environment. Why? Perhaps you want to avoid polluting the
  current system environment with side-effects produced by Maven plugins. Maybe
  you want to run the build from a different working directory than the current
  <<<${user.dir}>>>. Maybe you want to retain the ability to surgically kill one
  of many Maven builds if it hangs for some reason.
  
  This API is concerned with firing a Maven build in a new JVM. It accomplishes
  its task by building up a conventional Maven command line from options given
  in the current request, along with those global options specified in the
  invoker itself. Once it has the command line, the invoker will execute it, and
  capture the resulting exit code or any exception thrown to signal a failure to
  execute. Input/Output control can be specified using an <<<InputStream>>> and
  up to two <<<InvocationOutputHandler>>>s.
  
* Table of Contents

  * {{{usage.html}Basic Usage Instructions}}

  * {{{examples/index.html}Examples}}

  []
  
* Features

  * Tracking of exit code and exception resulting from an invocation

  * Global Options:
  
    * Maven-Home Location (location of Maven application directory)
  
    * Global Checksum policy (fail/warn, global across defined repositories)
    
    * Local Repository Location
    
    * Working Directory
    
    * Input/Output Handlers
    
    * API Logger
    
    []
    
  * Request Options:
  
    * Global Checksum Policy (fail/warn, global across defined repositories)
    
    * Local Repository Location
    
    * Project Base Directory
    
    * POM File
    
    * POM File-Name (used in conjunction with Base Directory)
    
    * Interactive/Batch Mode (determines whether Maven prompts for input)
    
    * Offline Mode
    
    * Update-Snapshots Flag
    
    * Debug Flag (show debug-level output)
    
    * Show-Errors Flag (show exception stacktraces, but not full debug output)
    
    * Inherit-Shell-Environment Flag (inherit envars from the shell used to
      start the current JVM)
      
    * Reactor-Failure Behavior (fail-at-end, fail-never, etc.)
    
    * Input/Output Handlers
    
    * Build Properties (-D switches)
    
    * Build Goals
    
    * Settings Location (<<<settings.xml>>> file path)

    []
    
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