Unpack an EAR file using maven - maven

Question

I have an EAR file from some build. I want to extract the contents of this EAR file into another folder. I am confused how to do this. I have looked and tried
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-ear-plugin/
and
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-dependency-plugin/usage.html
but either maven is unable to find the file or it has dependency issues.
Since I am new to maven I don not understand how to set these plugins up.
I got the following error on using the below plugin.
Failure to find ECM:ECM:ear:1.0 in http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2 was cached in the local repository
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.6</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>ECM</groupId>
<artifactId>ECM</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<type>ear</type>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/earoutput</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 1

You can do it using dependency:unpack-dependencies. I just modify my answer because according to your comments, your ear is generated by some other build. If you do not have an Enterprise repository that you can deploy your ear artifact, you have to use "system" scope, but please note that it is usually discouraged.
Add below dependency to your pom.xml
<dependency>
<groupId>ECM</groupId>
<artifactId>ECM</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<type>ear</type>
<scope>system</scope>
<systemPath>/path/to/your/abc.ear</systemPath>
</dependency>
Add the below plugin to your postBuild module pom.xml
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.6</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack-dependencies</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<includeArtifactIds>ECM</includeArtifactIds>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/earoutput</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 2

Have you looked at this example of Maven EAR plugin for Unpacking a module yet?

Answer 3

The Maven Dependency Plugin and its unpack goal can do this.
Sample configuration:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.6</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>unpack</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>unpack</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>myear</groupId>
<artifactId>myear</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<type>ear</type>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/earoutput</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
This takes the 'myear.ear' artifact and extracts it to the 'target/earoutput' directory. This also works with JARs, WARs and any other zip-like file. The phase this executes under is 'package' - this may be too late if you need to use these resources in other parts of the build. Change the phase to something earlier such as 'generate-resources' if needed.
You mentioned that you already tried using the dependency plugin. Is the EAR file from another Maven project, and has it been installed in the local Maven repository? If it still doesn't work post the plugin configuration you tried to use.
(edit: update information on dependencies and local repository)
For this to work, your EAR file needs to be put into your local Maven repository (this is just a directory on your disk). But if other people need to build your project as well, you have a few options:
import the EAR into your local repository, and also deploy to a remote repository so everyone can get it (recommended, but requires you to set up a corporate Maven repository)
give the EAR to everyone and have them put it into their local repository using a couple of Maven commands (might be OK for a few developers, less overhead than setting up a whole repository server)
check the dependent EAR into source control under your project and unpack it (not the recommended way of doing things) in a goal in your project
Importing into your local repository is easy. It's very similar to these instructions.
Use the following command:
mvn install:install-file -Dfile=<path-to-EAR-file-on-local-filesystem> -DgroupId=myear
-DartifactId=myear -Dversion=1.0 -Dpackaging=ear
(modify path, groupId, artifactId and version as needed)
Group ID and artifact ID are there simply to uniquely identify artifacts.
Once you install this in the local repository, the dependency plugin should work and find the artifact.