Maven Profile
External
Internal
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