The settings element in the settings.xml file contains elements used to define values which configure Maven execution in various ways, like the pom.xml, but should not be bundled to any specific project, or distributed to an audience. These include values such as the local repository location, alternate remote repository servers, and authentication information. There are two locations where a settings.xml file may live:
Here is an overview of the top elements under settings:
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> <localRepository/> <interactiveMode/> <usePluginRegistry/> <offline/> <pluginGroups/> <servers/> <mirrors/> <proxies/> <profiles/> <activeProfiles/> </settings>
Half of the top-level settings elements are simple values, representing a range of values which describe elements of the build system that are active full-time.
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> <localRepository>${user.home}/.m2/repository</localRepository> <interactiveMode>true</interactiveMode> <usePluginRegistry>false</usePluginRegistry> <offline>false</offline> <pluginGroups> <pluginGroup>org.mortbay.jetty</pluginGroup> </pluginGroups> ... </settings>
mvn jetty:run
The repositories for deployment are defined by the distributionManagement element of the POM. However, certain settings such as username and password should not be distributed along with the pom.xml. This type of information should exist on the build server in the settings.xml.
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <servers> <server> <id>server001</id> <username>my_login</username> <password>my_password</password> <privateKey>${user.home}/.ssh/id_dsa</privateKey> <passphrase>some_passphrase</passphrase> <filePermissions>664</filePermissions> <directoryPermissions>775</directoryPermissions> <configuration></configuration> </server> </servers> ... </settings>
Note: If you use a private key to login to the server, make sure you omit the <password> element. Otherwise, the key will be ignored.
A new feature - server password and passphrase encryption has been added to 2.1.x and 3.0 trunks. See details on this page
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <mirrors> <mirror> <id>planetmirror.com</id> <name>PlanetMirror Australia</name> <url>http://downloads.planetmirror.com/pub/maven2</url> <mirrorOf>central</mirrorOf> </mirror> </mirrors> ... </settings>
In 2.0.9+, an enhanced syntax is supported:
The order is not important from left to right as the wildcards defer to further processing and explicit includes or excludes stop the processing. Additionally, the mirror list will now be ordered using a LinkedHashMap instead of HashMap such that the user may influence match order by changing the order of the definitions in the settings.xml
Examples:
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <proxies> <proxy> <id>myproxy</id> <active>true</active> <protocol>http</protocol> <host>proxy.somewhere.com</host> <port>8080</port> <username>proxyuser</username> <password>somepassword</password> <nonProxyHosts>*.google.com|ibiblio.org</nonProxyHosts> </proxy> </proxies> ... </settings>
The profile element in the settings.xml is a truncated version of the pom.xml profile element. It consists of the activation, repositories, pluginRepositories and properties elements. The profile elements only include these four elements because they concerns themselves with the build system as a whole (which is the role of the settings.xml file), not about individual project object model settings.
If a profile is active from settings, its values will override any equivalently ID'd profiles in a POM or profiles.xml file.
Activations are the key of a profile. Like the POM's profiles, the power of a profile comes from its ability to modify some values only under certain circumstances; those circumstances are specified via an activation element.
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <profiles> <profile> <id>test</id> <activation> <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault> <jdk>1.5</jdk> <os> <name>Windows XP</name> <family>Windows</family> <arch>x86</arch> <version>5.1.2600</version> </os> <property> <name>mavenVersion</name> <value>2.0.3</value> </property> <file> <exists>${basedir}/file2.properties</exists> <missing>${basedir}/file1.properties</missing> </file> </activation> ... </profile> </profiles> ... </settings>
Activation occurs when all specified criteria have been met, though not all are required at once.
The activation element is not the only way that a profile may be activated. The settings.xml file's activeProfile element may contain the profile's id. They may also be activated explicitly through the command line via a comma separated list after the -P flag (e.g. -P test).
To see which profile will activate in a certain build, use the maven-help-plugin.
mvn help:active-profiles
Maven properties are value placeholder, like properties in Ant. Their values are accessible anywhere within a POM by using the notation ${X}, where X is the property. They come in five different styles, all accessible from the settings.xml file:
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <profiles> <profile> ... <properties> <user.install>${user.home}/our-project</user.install> </properties> ... </profile> </profiles> ... </settings>
The property ${user.install} is accessible from a POM if this profile is active.
Repositories are remote collections of projects from which Maven uses to populate the local repository of the build system. It is from this local repository that Maven calls it plugins and dependencies. Different remote repositories may contain different projects, and under the active profile they may be searched for a matching release or snapshot artifact.
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <profiles> <profile> ... <repositories> <repository> <id>codehausSnapshots</id> <name>Codehaus Snapshots</name> <releases> <enabled>false</enabled> <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy> <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy> </releases> <snapshots> <enabled>true</enabled> <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy> <checksumPolicy>fail</checksumPolicy> </snapshots> <url>http://snapshots.maven.codehaus.org/maven2</url> <layout>default</layout> </repository> </repositories> <pluginRepositories> ... </pluginRepositories> ... </profile> </profiles> ... </settings>
Repositories are home to two major types of artifacts. The first are artifacts that are used as dependencies of other artifacts. These are the majority of plugins that reside within central. The other type of artifact is plugins. Maven plugins are themselves a special type of artifact. Because of this, plugin repositories may be separated from other repositories (although, I have yet to hear a convincing argument for doing so). In any case, the structure of the pluginRepositories element block is similar to the repositories element. The pluginRepository elements each specify a remote location of where Maven can find new plugins.
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd"> ... <activeProfiles> <activeProfile>env-test</activeProfile> </activeProfiles> </settings>
The final piece of the settings.xml puzzle is the activeProfiles element. This contains a set of activeProfile elements, which each have a value of a profile id. Any profile id defined as an activeProfile will be active, reguardless of any environment settings. If no matching profile is found nothing will happen. For example, if env-test is an activeProfile, a profile in a pom.xml (or profile.xml with a corrosponding id will be active. If no such profile is found then execution will continue as normal.