maven-plugin-plugin/src/site/apt/usage.apt

 ------
 Usage
 ------
 Maria Odea Ching
 Vincent Siveton
 ------
 2008-01-01
 ------

~~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
~~ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
~~ distributed with this work for additional information
~~ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
~~ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
~~ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
~~ with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
~~
~~   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
~~
~~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
~~ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
~~ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
~~ KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
~~ specific language governing permissions and limitations
~~ under the License.

~~ NOTE: For help with the syntax of this file, see:
~~ http://maven.apache.org/doxia/references/apt-format.html

Usage

  The Plugin Plugin is generally used for Maven plugins. Its goals are bound to different phases in the build life cycle.
  So when you execute a specific phase, the Plugin Plugin goals bound to it are also executed. Aside from this, each goal can
  also be explicitly executed from the command line.

* The <<<plugin:descriptor>>> Goal

  The <<<plugin:descriptor>>> goal is bound to the <<<process-classes>>> phase since 3.0; it was bound to <<<generate-resources>>> phase previously.
  This goal generates the plugin descriptor, which is an xml file that contains information about the plugin
  (see {{{/ref/current/maven-plugin-api/plugin.html}descriptor's reference}}).

  For example, you want to create an archive of your plugin and you execute

+-----+
mvn package
+-----+

  You will see that the <<<plugin.xml>>> file is generated in the <<<target/classes/META-INF/maven>>> directory of your project. The file is
  also bundled in the generated JAR file.

  To explicitly execute the <<<plugin:descriptor>>> goal, type the following in the command line:

+-----+
mvn plugin:descriptor
+-----+

* The <<<plugin:addPluginArtifactMetadata>>> Goal

  The <<<plugin:addPluginArtifactMetadata>>> goal, on the other hand, is bound to the <<<package>>> phase of the build life cycle.
  This goal will add the metadata to the project artifact. To do this, execute

+-----+
mvn package
+-----+

* The <<<plugin:helpmojo>>> Goal

  To generate a <<<HelpMojo>>> for the mojos of your plugin, execute the following on the command line:

+-----+
mvn plugin:helpmojo
+-----+

  The mojo is generated by default in <<<$\{project.build.directory\}/generated-sources/plugin>>>.