🔍 Search Maven Goal
Understanding Goal Chains
When you run a Maven command like mvn package, Maven doesn’t only execute that goal, it runs every phase leading up to it, in sequence.
| Command | Implicit Phases (executed in order) |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| mvn compile | validate → compile |
| mvn test | validate → compile → test |
| mvn package | validate → compile → test → package |
| mvn install | validate → compile → test → package → install |
| mvn deploy | validate → compile → test → package → install → deploy |
| mvn verify | validate → compile → test → verify |
Each phase is bound by default to one or more plugin goals.
Example:
compile → compiler:compile
package → jar:jar or war:war (depending on packaging type).
Diagnostic & Helper Commands
| Command | Description | Example Output |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| mvn help:effective-pom | Displays the full merged POM (parent + profiles + defaults). | Useful to debug inheritance issues |
| mvn help:describe -Dcmd=compile | Shows which plugin and goal are bound to compile. | Reveals compiler:compile mapping |
| mvn help:describe -Dplugin=compiler | Lists all available goals for a given plugin. | compiler:compile, compiler:testCompile |
| mvn dependency:tree | Displays dependency hierarchy and conflicts. | A:1.0 → B:2.0 → C:3.1 |
| mvn -X | Runs in debug mode, showing plugin binding and lifecycle execution. | Great for build troubleshooting |
Custom Goal Bindings
You can attach plugin goals to different phases in your pom.xml:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>run</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>