diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a22e5e9..93c9fc4 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -56,4 +56,22 @@
     <url>https://builds.apache.org/hudson/job/maven-shared/</url>
   </ciManagement>
 
+  <build>
+    <pluginManagement>
+      <plugins>
+        <plugin>
+          <groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
+          <artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
+          <configuration>
+            <excludes combine.children="append">
+              <!--
+                This is a license header template.
+              -->
+              <exclude>src/main/resources/config/maven-header.txt</exclude>
+            </excludes>
+          </configuration>
+        </plugin>
+      </plugins>
+    </pluginManagement>
+  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/config/maven-header.txt b/src/main/resources/config/maven-header.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d3c3de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/config/maven-header.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+^package 
+^\s*$
+^/\*\s*$
+^ \* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation \(ASF\) under one\s*$
+^ \* or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file\s*$
+^ \* distributed with this work for additional information\s*$
+^ \* regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file\s*$
+^ \* to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 \(the\s*$
+^ \* "License"\)\; you may not use this file except in compliance\s*$
+^ \* with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at\s*$
+^ \*\s*$
+^ \*\s+http://www\.apache\.org/licenses/LICENSE-2\.0\s*$
+^ \*\s*$
+^ \* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,\s*$
+^ \* software distributed under the License is distributed on an\s*$
+^ \* "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY\s*$
+^ \* KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the\s*$
+^ \* specific language governing permissions and limitations\s*$
+^ \* under the License.\s*$
+^ \*/\s*$
+^\s*$
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/resources/config/maven_checks.xml b/src/main/resources/config/maven_checks.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fda20c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/config/maven_checks.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!--
+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.
+-->
+
+<!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC
+    "-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Check Configuration 1.2//EN"
+    "http://www.puppycrawl.com/dtds/configuration_1_2.dtd">
+
+<!--
+  Checkstyle configuration that checks the Maven coding conventions from:
+  http://maven.apache.org/developers/conventions/code.html
+-->
+
+<module name="Checker">
+
+    <!-- Checks that each Java package has a Javadoc file used for commenting. -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_javadoc.html#JavadocPackage       -->
+    <!--module name="JavadocPackage">
+      <property name="allowLegacy" value="true"/>
+    </module-->
+
+    <!-- Checks whether files end with a new line.                        -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_misc.html#NewlineAtEndOfFile -->
+    <!-- module name="NewlineAtEndOfFile"/ -->
+
+    <module name="FileLength"/>
+
+    <!-- Checks for Headers                              -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_header.html -->
+    <module name="RegexpHeader">
+      <property name="fileExtensions" value="java"/>
+      <property name="headerFile" value="${checkstyle.header.file}"/>
+    </module>
+
+    <module name="FileTabCharacter">
+        <property name="eachLine" value="true"/>
+    </module>
+
+    <!-- Line with trailing spaces (disabled as it's too noisy) -->
+    <!--<module name="RegexpSingleline">
+        <property name="format" value="\s+$"/>
+        <property name="message" value="Line has trailing spaces."/>
+    </module>-->
+
+    <module name="TreeWalker">
+
+        <property name="cacheFile" value="${checkstyle.cache.file}"/>
+
+        <property name="tabWidth" value="4"/>
+
+        <!-- required for SuppressWarningsFilter (and other Suppress* rules not used here) -->
+        <!-- see http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/config_annotation.html#SuppressWarningsHolder -->
+        <module name="SuppressWarningsHolder"/>
+
+        <!-- required for SuppressionCommentFilter -->
+        <!-- see http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/config.html#SuppressionCommentFilter -->
+        <module name="FileContentsHolder"/>
+
+        <module name="LeftCurly">
+          <property name="option" value="nl"/>
+        </module>
+
+        <module name="RightCurly">
+          <property name="option" value="alone"/>
+        </module>
+
+        <module name="LineLength">
+          <property name="max" value="120" />
+          <property name="ignorePattern" value="@version|@see|@todo|TODO"/>
+        </module>
+
+        <module name="MemberName" />
+
+        <!-- Checks for Javadoc comments.                     -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_javadoc.html -->
+        <module name="JavadocMethod">
+          <property name="severity" value="warning"/>
+          <property name="scope" value="protected"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="JavadocType">
+          <property name="scope" value="protected"/>
+          <property name="allowUnknownTags" value="true" />
+        </module>
+        <module name="JavadocVariable">
+          <property name="severity" value="info"/>
+          <property name="scope" value="protected"/>
+        </module>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for Naming Conventions.                  -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_naming.html -->
+        <module name="ConstantName"/>
+        <module name="LocalFinalVariableName"/>
+        <module name="LocalVariableName"/>
+        <module name="MethodName"/>
+        <module name="PackageName"/>
+        <module name="ParameterName"/>
+        <module name="StaticVariableName"/>
+        <module name="TypeName"/>
+
+        <!-- Checks for imports                              -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_import.html -->
+        <module name="AvoidStarImport"/>
+        <module name="IllegalImport"/>
+        <module name="RedundantImport"/>
+        <module name="UnusedImports"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for Size Violations.                    -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_sizes.html -->
+        <module name="MethodLength"/>
+        <module name="ParameterNumber"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_whitespace.html -->
+        <module name="EmptyForIteratorPad">
+          <property name="option" value="space"/>
+        </module>
+        <!-- module name="NoWhitespaceAfter"/ -->
+        <!-- module name="NoWhitespaceBefore"/ -->
+        <module name="OperatorWrap"/>
+        <module name="ParenPad">
+          <property name="option" value="space" />
+        </module>
+        <module name="WhitespaceAfter"/>
+        <module name="WhitespaceAround"/>
+        <!-- module name="MethodParamPad"/ -->
+        <module name="GenericWhitespace"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Modifier Checks                                    -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_modifiers.html -->
+        <module name="ModifierOrder"/>
+        <module name="RedundantModifier"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for blocks. You know, those {}'s         -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_blocks.html -->
+        <module name="AvoidNestedBlocks"/>
+        <module name="EmptyBlock">
+          <property name="option" value="text"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="NeedBraces"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for common coding problems               -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_coding.html -->
+        <!-- module name="AvoidInlineConditionals"/ -->
+        <module name="EmptyStatement"/>
+        <module name="EqualsHashCode"/>
+        <module name="HiddenField">
+          <property name="severity" value="warning"/>
+          <property name="ignoreSetter" value="true"/>
+          <property name="ignoreConstructorParameter" value="true"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="IllegalInstantiation"/>
+        <module name="InnerAssignment"/>
+        <module name="MagicNumber">
+          <!-- some numbers are really not that magic -->
+          <property name="ignoreNumbers" value="-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 31, 32, 37, 64, 100, 128, 256, 512, 1000, 1024"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="MissingSwitchDefault"/>
+        <module name="SimplifyBooleanExpression"/>
+        <module name="SimplifyBooleanReturn"/>
+
+        <!-- Checks for class design                         -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_design.html -->
+        <!-- module name="DesignForExtension"/ -->
+        <!-- module name="FinalClass"/ -->
+        <!-- module name="HideUtilityClassConstructor"/ -->
+        <module name="InterfaceIsType"/>
+        <module name="VisibilityModifier">
+          <property name="protectedAllowed" value="true"/>
+          <property name="packageAllowed" value="true"/>
+        </module>
+
+        <!-- Miscellaneous other checks.                   -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_misc.html -->
+        <!-- module name="ArrayTypeStyle"/ -->
+        <!-- module name="FinalParameters"/ -->
+        <!-- Let todo plugin handle this.
+        <module name="TodoComment"/>
+          -->
+        <module name="UpperEll"/>
+
+    </module>
+
+    <!-- Support @SuppressWarnings (added in Checkstyle 5.7) -->
+    <!-- see http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/config.html#SuppressWarningsFilter -->
+    <module name="SuppressWarningsFilter"/>
+
+    <!-- Checks properties file for a duplicated properties. -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/config_misc.html#UniqueProperties -->
+    <module name="UniqueProperties"/>
+
+    <!-- Support CHECKSTYLE_OFF: regexp and CHECKSTYLE_ON: regexp comments to disable/enable some checks -->
+    <!-- see http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/config.html#SuppressionCommentFilter -->
+    <module name="SuppressionCommentFilter">
+        <property name="offCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE_OFF\: (.+)"/>
+        <property name="onCommentFormat" value="CHECKSTYLE_ON\: (.+)"/>
+        <property name="checkFormat" value="$1"/>
+    </module>
+
+</module>
diff --git a/src/site/apt/index.apt.vm b/src/site/apt/index.apt.vm
index 182b0df..8cbac0d 100644
--- a/src/site/apt/index.apt.vm
+++ b/src/site/apt/index.apt.vm
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  ------
  Dennis Lundberg
  ------
- 2013-07-24
+ 2015-01-22
  ------
 
 ~~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@
 
 * Maven Changes Plugin
 
-** org/apache/maven/plugins/announcement.vm
+** <<<org/apache/maven/plugins/announcement.vm>>>
 
   This is a template that can be used by Maven Changes Plugin to create and send
   an announcement e-mail for one of our plugins. It will create an announcement
   e-mail that conforms to the "Promote the release" section of our
   {{{http://maven.apache.org/developers/release/maven-project-release-procedure.html#Promote_the_release}release procedure}}.
 
-** org/apache/maven/shared/announcement.vm
+** <<<org/apache/maven/shared/announcement.vm>>>
 
   This is a template that can be used by Maven Changes Plugin to create and send
   an announcement e-mail for one of our shared components. It will create an
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@
   {{{http://maven.apache.org/developers/release/maven-project-release-procedure.html#Promote_the_release}release procedure}}.
 
 
+* Maven Checkstyle Plugin
+
+** <<<config/maven-header.txt>>>
+
+  This is a license header template that can be used by Maven Checkstyle Plugin
+  to verify that all files are using this license header.
+
+** {{{./maven_checks.html}<<<config/maven_checks.xml>>>}}
+
+  This is a Checkstyle configuration file for
+  {{{/developers/conventions/code.html}Maven coding conventions}} that can be
+  used in Maven Checkstyle Plugin.
+
+
 * Usage
 
   General instructions on how to use the Maven Shared Resources can be found on
diff --git a/src/site/apt/maven_checks.apt.vm b/src/site/apt/maven_checks.apt.vm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..098a95e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/site/apt/maven_checks.apt.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+ ------
+ config/maven_checks.xml
+ ------
+ Hervé Boutemy
+ ------
+ 2015-01-18
+ ------
+
+~~ 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
+
+
+<<<config/maven_checks.xml>>>
+
+  This is a predefined ruleset for
+ {{{/developers/conventions/code.html}Maven coding conventions}} that can be
+  used in Maven Checkstyle Plugin:
+
+%{snippet|file=${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/config/maven_checks.xml}
diff --git a/src/site/apt/usage.apt.vm b/src/site/apt/usage.apt.vm
index 9e29e9f..2812931 100644
--- a/src/site/apt/usage.apt.vm
+++ b/src/site/apt/usage.apt.vm
@@ -97,6 +97,34 @@
 </project>
 +----------+
 
+  or like this:
+
++----------+
+<project>
+  ...
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>2.14</version>
+        <configuration>
+          <configLocation>config/maven_checks.xml</configLocation>
+          <headerLocation>config/maven-header.txt</headerLocation>
+        </configuration>
+        <dependencies>
+          ...
+        </dependencies>
+        <executions>
+          ...
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+  ...
+</project>
++----------+
+
 
 * Execute the plugin