Maven Profile

External

• http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-profiles.html

Internal

• Maven Concepts

Overview

A profile is an alternative set of configurations which set or override default values. Profiles allow to customize a build for different environments. Profiles can be defined:

• per project in the pom.xml file - these are called inline profiles and they are preferred, as they have a better chance of preserving the portability.
• per-user in ${user.home}/.m2/settings.xml
• global in ${maven.home}/conf/settings.xml

Each profile is identified with an identifier. Profiles customizes the build for different environments (e.g. production or development, different operating systems, different JDK versions, etc.)

An example of profile:

...
<profiles> 
   <profile>
     <id>production</id>
         <build>
            <plugins>
              <plugin>
                  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                  <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                  <configuration>
                      <debug>false</debug> 
                      <optimize>true</optimize>
                  </configuration>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
         </build>
   </profile>
 </profiles>
...

Build Configuration that Can Be Modified in a Profile

Inline Profiles

An inline profile can modify the following POM elements:

• <repositories>
• <pluginRepositories>
• <dependencies>
• <plugins>
• <properties> (not actually available in the main POM, but used behind the scenes)
• <modules>
• <reporting>
• <dependencyManagement>
• <distributionManagement>
• a subset of the <build> element, which consists of:
  • <defaultGoal>
  • <resources>
  • <testResources>
  • <finalName>

Activating a Profile

Command Line

The profile can be activated explicitly on command line with -P:

mvn -Pproduction clear install

When this options is used, the specified profiles are activated in additions of those specified in the <activeProfiles> element of settings.xml.

In Settings

The active profiles are specified in settings.xml:

<settings>
  ...
  <activeProfiles>
    <activeProfile>blue</activeProfile>
  </activeProfiles>
  ...
</settings>

Other Methods

A profile can also be triggered based on environment variables, OS settings, or present or missing files.

The trigger is specified in the <activation> section of the profile.

How Can I Tell which Profile is Active?

mvn help:active-profiles