Maven

What is Maven?

Maven is a project management build tool used primarily in Java development. Hosted by the Apache Software Foundation, Maven originated as part of the Jakarta Project.

Maven makes the software building process easier by providing a uniform system for building, quality project information, guideline best practices development and transparent migration to new features. Maven describes how software is built and notes dependencies, while Apache helps manage projects and serves as a comprehension tool as it quickly reveals the state of a project.

Maven can provide useful "at-a-glance" models that demonstrate the current state of a project for those non-technical users, including business management and investors.

Maven is based on the project object model and stores projects in a Pom.xml file format. The tool manages project builds, reporting and documentation from the central XML information base, and provides a standard plug-in architecture.

Maven substantially eases the process of building Java applications as it makes checking the status of a project more relatable. Maven now has reproducible builds practices to allow for independently verifiable paths from the source code to binary code.

The name Maven comes from the Yiddish word meaning "accumulator of knowledge."