maven plugin descriptor not getting generated - maven

Question

I'm creating a maven plugin, MVN clean install build succeeds but plugin.xml is not getting generated.
#Mojo( name = "cover", defaultPhase = LifecyclePhase.POST_INTEGRATION_TEST)
public class RunCoverage extends AbstractMojo
{
#Parameter( property = "cover.wadl", defaultValue = "test")
private String wadl;
#Parameter( property = "cover.endpoints",defaultValue = "test")
private String endpoints;
#Override
public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException
{
<somecode>
}
}
And the pom.xml is
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<artifactId>end-point-test-coverage</artifactId>
<version>1</version>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
<version>2.0</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugin-tools</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-plugin-annotations</artifactId>
<version>3.2</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-plugin-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.2</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>default-descriptor</id>
<goals>
<goal>descriptor</goal>
</goals>
<phase>process-classes</phase>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>help-descriptor</id>
<goals>
<goal>helpmojo</goal>
</goals>
<phase>process-classes</phase>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.6</source>
<target>1.6</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
Maven clean install doesn't generate plugin.xml
When used in a dependent project, I'm getting the following error
Failed to parse plugin descriptor for it.gruppopam.common:end-point-test-coverage:1 (/home/d/.m2/repository/it/common/end-point-test-coverage/1/end-point-test-coverage-1.jar): No plugin descriptor found at META-INF/maven/plugin.xml -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]

Answer 1

First i would try to set the packaging type to maven-plugin instead of the default which is jar. Furthermore i would suggest to use more up-to-date versions of plugins (maven-compiler-plugin: 3.1) and use a more up-to-date version of maven-plugin-api (3.0? but not 2.0).

Answer 2

you have to remember to change it in your pom.xml to:
<packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
it is by default:
<packaging>jar</packaging>