  ---
  Introduction
  ---
  John Casey
  Edwin Punzalan
  ---
  2 November 2006
  ---

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Maven Assembly Plugin

~~ * Status
~~
~~   <<Current Assembly Plugin Version is: 2.1>>
~~
* Introduction

  Do you want to create a binary distribution from a Maven project that includes
  supporting scripts, configuration files, and all runtime dependencies?  You
  need to use the Assembly Plugin to create a distribution for your project.

  This plugin generates "assemblies". It is the equivalent of the Maven 1
  distribution plug-in.  This plugin provides the capability to create binary
  and source distributions.  These distributions (assemblies) are defined using
  an assembly descriptor.  You can write your own {{{./assembly.html}descriptor}}
  to create a custom assembly, or you can reuse one of the three
  {{{./descriptor-refs.html}pre-defined assemblies}}.

  Currently it can create distributions in the following formats:

    * zip

    * tar.gz

    * tar.bz2

    * jar

    * dir

    * war

    * and any other format that the ArchiveManager has been configured for

  To use the Assembly Plugin in Maven 2, you simply need to:

    * choose or write the assembly descriptor to use,

    * configure the Assembly Plugin in your project's pom.xml, and

    * run "mvn assembly:assembly" on your project.

  To write your own custom assembly, you will need to refer to the
  {{{./assembly.html}Assembly Descriptor Format}} reference.


What is an Assembly?

  An "assembly" is a group of files, directories, and dependencies that are
  assembled into an archive format and distributed.  For example, assume that
  a Maven project defines a single JAR artifact that contains both a console
  application and a Swing application.  Such a project could define two
  "assemblies" that bundle the application with a different set of supporting
  scripts and dependency sets.  One assembly would be the assembly for the
  console application, and the other assembly could be a Swing application
  bundled with a slightly different set of dependencies.

  The Assembly Plugin provides a descriptor format which allows you to define
  an arbitrary assembly of files and directories from a project.  For example,
  if your Maven 2 project contains the directory "src/main/bin", you can
  instruct the Assembly Plugin to copy the contents of this directory to the
  "bin" directory of an assembly and to change the permissions of the files in
  the "bin" directory to UNIX mode 755.  The parameters for configuring this
  behavior are supplied to the Assembly Plugin by way of the
  {{{./assembly.html}assembly descriptor}}.


The Maven Assembly Plugin

  The Assembly Plugin for Maven 2.0 is primarily intended to allow users to
  aggregate the project output along with its dependencies, modules, site
  documentation, and other files into a single distributable archive.

  Your project build can build distribution assemblies easily, using one of the
  convenient, prefabricated assembly descriptors. These descriptors handle many
  common operations, such as packaging a project's artifact along with its
  dependencies in a single jar. Alternatively, your project can provide its own
  descriptor and assume a much higher level of control over how dependencies,
  modules, file-sets, and individual files are packaged in the assembly.


* Goals

  For more information about the goals that are available in the Assembly Plugin, see {{{./plugin-info.html}the plugin documentation page}}.


* Assembly Descriptor Schemas (XSD)

  * {{{http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.1.xsd}http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.1.xsd}} (for version 2.2-beta-4 and higher)

  * {{{http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd}http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0.xsd}} (for version 2.2-beta-3 and lower)

  * {{{http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.0.0.xsd}http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.0.0.xsd}} (for versions 2.1 and lower)

  []


* Usage

  General instructions on how to use the Assembly Plugin can be found on the {{{./usage.html}usage page}}. Some more
  specific use cases are described in the examples given below. Last but not least, users occasionally contribute
  additional examples, tips or errata to the
  {{{http://docs.codehaus.org/display/MAVENUSER/Assembly+Plugin}plugin's wiki page}}.

  In case you still have questions regarding the plugin's usage, please have a look at the {{{./faq.html}FAQ}} and feel
  free to contact the {{{./mail-lists.html}user mailing list}}. The posts to the mailing list are archived and could
  already contain the answer to your question as part of an older thread. Hence, it is also worth browsing/searching
  the {{{./mail-lists.html}mail archive}}.

  If you feel like the plugin is missing a feature or has a defect, you can fill a feature request or bug report in our
  {{{./issue-tracking.html}issue tracker}}. When creating a new issue, please provide a comprehensive description of your
  concern. Especially for fixing bugs it is crucial that the developers can reproduce your problem. For this reason,
  entire debug logs, POMs or most preferably little demo projects attached to the issue are very much appreciated.
  Of course, patches are welcome, too. Contributors can check out the project from our
  {{{./source-repository.html}source repository}} and will find supplementary information in the
  {{{http://maven.apache.org/guides/development/guide-helping.html}guide to helping with Maven}}.

* Examples

  To provide you with better understanding on some usages of the Assembly
  Plugin, you can take a look into the examples which can be found
  {{{./examples/index.html}here}}.
