How to place the output jar into another folder with maven? - maven

Question

I'd like to place my output jar and jar-with-dependencies into another folder (not in target/ but in ../libs/).
How can I do that?

Answer 1

You can use the outputDirectory parameter of the maven-jar-plugin for this purpose:
<project>
...
<build>
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3.1</version>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>../libs</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
</plugin>
...
</plugins>
</build>
...
</project>
But as cdegroot wrote, you should probably better not fight the maven way.

Answer 2

If you want to copy the artifact into a directory outside your project, solutions might be:
maven-jar-plugin and configure outputDirectory
maven-antrun-plugin and copy task
copy-maven-plugin by Evgeny Goldin
Example for the copy-maven-plugin is:
<plugin>
<groupId>com.github.goldin</groupId>
<artifactId>copy-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>0.2.5</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>deploy-to-local-directory</id>
<phase>install</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<skipIdentical>false</skipIdentical>
<failIfNotFound>false</failIfNotFound>
<resources>
<resource>
<description>Copy artifact to another directory</description>
<targetPath>/your/local/path</targetPath>
<directory>${project.build.directory}</directory>
<includes>
<include>*.jar</include>
</includes>
</resource>
</resources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 3

Another way would be maven-resources-plugin (find the current version here):
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.2</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>copy-files-on-build</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy-resources</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>${basedir}/[TO-DIR]</outputDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>[FROM-DIR]</directory>
<!--<include>*.[MIME-TYPE]</include>-->
<filtering>false</filtering>
</resource>
</resources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 4

I would do it this way:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.8</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>install</phase>
<configuration>
<target>
<copy file="target/${project.artifactId}-exec.jar" tofile="../../docker/${project.artifactId}.jar"/>
</target>
</configuration>
<goals>
<goal>run</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>

Answer 5

This technique worked well for me:
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-dependency-plugin/examples/copying-artifacts.html
<project>
[...]
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.10</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>copy</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<type>jar</type>
<overWrite>false</overWrite>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/alternateLocation</outputDirectory>
<destFileName>optional-new-name.jar</destFileName>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/wars</outputDirectory>
<overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>
<overWriteSnapshots>true</overWriteSnapshots>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
[...]
</project>

Answer 6

I specially like the solution using maven-resources-plugin (see here) because is already included in maven, so no extra download is needed, and also is very configurable to do the copy at a specific phase of your project (see here to learn & understand about phases). And the best part of this approach is that it won't mess up any previous processes or build you had before :)
<project>
...
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.2.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>copy-resources</id>
<!-- here the phase you need -->
<phase>validate</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy-resources</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>/dir/where/you/want/to/put/jar</outputDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>/dir/where/you/have/the/jar</directory>
<filtering>false</filtering>
<includes>
<include>file-you-want-to.jar</include>
<include>another-file-you-want-to.jar</include>
</includes>
</resource>
</resources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
...
</build>
...
</project>
Of course you can also use interpolated variables like ${baseDir} and other good stuff like that all over your XML. And you could use wild cards as they explain here

Answer 7

Maven dependency plugin is perfectly capable of copying all dependencies and just built artifact in a custom location. Following example will copy all runtime dependencies and a built artifact in a two execution phases.
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.3.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>copy-dependencies</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<includeScope>runtime</includeScope>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/jars</outputDirectory>
<overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>
<overWriteSnapshots>false</overWriteSnapshots>
<overWriteIfNewer>true</overWriteIfNewer>
</configuration>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>copy-artifact</id>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<artifactItems>
<artifactItem>
<groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
<artifactId>${project.artifactId}</artifactId>
<version>${project.version}</version>
<type>${project.packaging}</type>
</artifactItem>
</artifactItems>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/jars</outputDirectory>
<overWriteIfNewer>true</overWriteIfNewer>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
While documentation of dependency plugin states in its documentation that in order to copy built artifact you have to use any phase after the package phase, that is not true if you are building jars. In that situation you can use package phase. At least in 3.3.0 version of plugin.