Can and should a Maven POM specify if it requires Maven 3 or newer?

Question

I am currently doing some cleanup of Java projects which use Maven, and use NetBeans IDE to 'debug' problems in the POM. I have set Maven 3.0.4 in the IDE as the Maven version, but other developers or our Continuous Intgeration system might have different settings.

Is it possible to 'enforce' a specific Maven version directly in the POM (for example by using a Maven 3 specific element)?

Answer 1

Yes you can and you should. Some Maven plugins requires Maven 3 or newer.

Use the maven-enforcer-plugin by adding the following to your pom.xml:

<build>   <plugins>     <plugin>       <inherited>true</inherited>       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>       <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>       <version>1.3.1</version>         <executions>           <execution>             <id>enforce-maven-3</id>             <goals>               <goal>enforce</goal>             </goals>             <configuration>               <rules>                 <requireMavenVersion>                   <version>3.0.5</version>                 </requireMavenVersion>                               </rules>               <fail>true</fail>             </configuration>           </execution>        </executions>      </plugin>   </plugins> </build> 

Answer 2

Another option is to use the prerequisites element in the pom, for example:

<project>    ...    <prerequisites>        <maven>3.0.0</maven>    </prerequisites>    ... </project> 

As noted Michal Kalinowski's answer - this simple approach does not work so well for children projects.

For a summary of which approach will work best for you, see here: enforcing maven 3 - when to use maven enforcer plugin? when to use pom prerequisites element?