The Maven Packaging plugin is an extension for Maven2 which allows creating binary packages for GNU/Linux distributions as well as embedded Linux variants. Additionally it supports the creation of IzPack installers.

The Maven Packaging plugin is an extension for Maven2 which allows creating binary packages for GNU/Linux distributions like Debian and Ubuntu as well as embedded Linux variants like Maemo and OpenMoko. Additionally it supports the creation of IzPack installers.

The plugin only needs a few configuration options and can then be invoked as a normal Maven command.

By default the plugin tries to find equivalents of the project's Maven dependencies in the target distribution. That is Maven dependencies are translated into e.g. Debian packages. For that the plugin contains dependency translation information which is called a package map.

Package maps are included for the following distributions:

- OpenMoko 2007.2

- Maemo Bora

- Maemo Chinook (4.0)

- Debian Etch

- Debian Lenny

- Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10)

- Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) / Intrepid (8.10)

- Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) / Karmic (9.10)

If a project dependency cannot be found in a package map the respective jar file is automatically bundled with the application. The plugin can be configured to behave like this even for dependencies which are available in a package map.

For all of these distributions the plugin automatically generates start scripts which allow running the program from a terminal. The plugin's configuration also allows specifying additional files which need to be installed with the package. The configuration uses well-known names like 'sysconfdir', 'datadir' etc. for that. The exact locations of these directories are distribution specific and are given by the package maps. The mechanism to specify additional files for installation can be used to provide a '.desktop' file which allows the user to graphically start your application.

The plugin also allows specifying pre/post install and removal scripts.

The plugin supports the following packaging formats:

- .deb

- .ipk

- IzPack

The IzPack generator is a bit special but can also be handled through the packaging plugin. Since the IzPack system has no repositories containing dependencies, all of the project's dependencies are bundled. Again the plugin is able to generate proper start scripts for both, Unix-like and Windows, systems.

• Categories: Tools
• Development Status: 5 - Production/Stable
• Environment: Console (Text Based)
• Intended Audience: Developers
• License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
• Natural Language: English, German
• Operating System: OS Independent
• Programming Language: Java
• Topic: Build Tools