Does Maven need to be installed when we have m2e?

Question

I have installed m2e in my Eclipse Indigo, through the Eclipse market place.

Do I need to install maven explicitly and set the M2_HOME environment variable?

Thanks!

Answer 1

No and no. m2e has an embedded Maven, but you don't have to use it.

See the FAQs about more details, it is called Maven Embedder:

What Maven version is used by plugin

Plugin is not actually using Maven itself. It is using component that is part of Maven called Maven Embedder. This component is not available for Maven 2.0.x. The Embedder is used by the Maven command line interface (CLI) starting from version 2.1 that includes number of improvements to allow it to actually embed Maven.

The m2eclipse is currently using the Embedder component from Maven 3.0. If you want to execute particular version of Maven installed elsewhere, you can do so from the Maven launch configuration or select it as default in Maven / Installations preference page.

Answer 2

m2e comes with its own copy of the relevant libraries.

Unless you have a specific requirement for a specific Maven version, you don't need a separate installation.