I'm coming from the Ant world, where targets are fundamental. Need to
generate the JavaDocs and a JAR? Write targets called "javadoc" and
"jar" then do:
ant javadoc
ant jar
In Maven, these particular tasks have built-in plugins, so there's no
need to write a target. Instead you just invoke the plugin goal:
mvn javadoc:javadoc
mvn jar:jar
But there are many scenarios in which no plugin is available. For
instance, I use install4j to build an installer, and I use DocBook to
translate XML into PDF. Accomplishing these tasks with the AntRun
plugin is easy enough, but it's not clear how to actually invoke them.
The Ant concept of a target does not exist in Maven.
Maven does have profiles, however. I'm able to put the install4j stuff
into a profile called "install4j" and the DocBook stuff into a profile
called "docbook". Then I can do:
mvn -Pinstall4j
mvn -Pdocbook
This works, but from an end-user standpoint it's a little confusing.
For some things you invoke a plugin goal but for other things you
invoke a profile. It's inconsistent. Also, the Build Profiles chapter
of the Maven book mentions nothing about this use case. It only talks
about profiles for the purpose of build portability.
So... am I doing this right? Are profiles intended to play the role of
Ant targets? Or is there some other mechanism for that?
Trevor
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