Further background information about Maven PDE builds

I was asked in a comment to publish the settings.xml file for my Maven installation, because the correspondent was not able to build the example project successfully.

Our project makes use of a local Maven proxy server to mirror the combined contents of the Maven Central repository, various snapshot repositories and the project's own built artifacts. In the Maven conf directory, we have therefore installed the following settings.xml file, which reflects this arrangement:

<settings>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>project-repo</id>
      <username>...</username>
      <password>...</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>main-profile</id>
      <properties>
        <!-- settings.localRepository is set by the USER settings.xml -->
        <!-- Maven working directory -->
        <maven.work.dir>${settings.localRepository}/..</maven.work.dir>
        <!-- Clover working directory: clover license is expected in ${clover.work.dir}/license -->
        <clover.work.dir>${maven.work.dir}/clover-work</clover.work.dir>
        <!-- Additional plugin provider path for Eclipse target platform -->
        <plugin.target.dir>${maven.work.dir}/plugin_target_dir</plugin.target.dir>
        <!-- project sites will be deployed to ${site.dir} with mvn site:deploy -->
        <site.dir>${maven.work.dir}/maven_site</site.dir>
      </properties>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>central</id>
          <name>Internal Mirror of Central Repositories</name>
          <url>http://....:9999/repository/</url>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>central</id>
          <name>Internal Mirror of Central Plugins Repository</name>
          <url>http://....:9999/repository/</url>
        </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>  
    </profile>
  </profiles>
  <activeProfiles>
    <activeProfile>main-profile</activeProfile> 
  </activeProfiles>
</settings>

In the .m2 directory under the user's home directory, we install a minimal settings.xml, which simply indicates where to find the local Maven repo on your hard disk. However, I have customised my copy so that I can do builds when not connected to the company network but with access to the Internet. This shows you where you can obtain things like the PDE Maven plugin snapshot.

<settings>
  <localRepository>C:\data\...\maven_repo</localRepository>
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>publicRepos</id>
      <activation>
        <property>
     <name>searchPublicRepos</name>
     <value>true</value>
   </property>
      </activation>
      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>codehausSnapshots</id>
          <name>Codehaus Snapshots</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>fail</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://snapshots.maven.codehaus.org/maven2</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
        </repository>
        <repository>
          <id>mavenCentral</id>
          <name>Maven Central</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
   </repository>
        <repository>
          <id>mavenSnapshots</id>
          <name>Maven Snapshots</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://people.apache.org/repo/m2-snapshot-repository/</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
   </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>codehausSnapshots</id>
          <name>Codehaus Snapshots</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>fail</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://snapshots.maven.codehaus.org/maven2</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
        </pluginRepository>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>mavenCentral</id>
          <name>Maven Central</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
   </pluginRepository>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>mavenSnapshots</id>
          <name>Maven Snapshots</name>
          <releases>
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </releases>
          <snapshots>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <updatePolicy>daily</updatePolicy>
            <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
          </snapshots>
          <url>http://people.apache.org/repo/m2-snapshot-repository/</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
   </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
</settings>

As I mentioned in passing in my original post, you also have to make sure that you (a) correct the version number of two dependencies in the pde-maven-plugin's POM, and (b) upload all the Eclipse plugins that the pde-maven-plugin needs to your local repository or to your project repository, using the eclipse:to-maven goal.

I have actually set up a Maven project to do upload Eclipse plugins repeatably and reliably in case we need to clean up and rebuild the project repository (e.g. after an upgrade of Eclipse). Here's the POM:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>....</groupId>
  <artifactId>devclipse-to-maven</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>pom</packaging>
  <name>Eclipse plugins to Maven Artifacts converter</name>
  <url>....</url>
  <description>....</description>

  <!-- ******************************************************************
    Inherit from project grandparent pom
    ****************************************************************** -->
  <parent>
    <groupId>....</groupId>
    <artifactId>configuration</artifactId>
    <version>1.8</version>
  </parent>

  <!-- ******************************************************************
    Environment Information
    ****************************************************************** -->
  <scm>
    <connection>
      scm:svn:http://..../devclipse_to_maven/
    </connection>
    <developerConnection>
      scm:svn:http://..../devclipse_to_maven/
    </developerConnection>
    <tag>HEAD</tag>
    <url>
      http://..../devclipse_to_maven/
    </url>
  </scm>

  <!-- ******************************************************************
    Build configuration
    ****************************************************************** -->
  <properties>
    <eclipse.source.dir>${env.M2_HOME}/../eclipse</eclipse.source.dir>
    <eclipse.ext.dir>${env.M2_HOME}/../ext/eclipse</eclipse.ext.dir>
    <eclipse.usr.dir>${env.M2_HOME}/../usr/eclipse</eclipse.usr.dir>
    <eclipse.target.dir>${project.build.directory}/eclipse</eclipse.target.dir>
  </properties>
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.1</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>copy-plugins-and-features</id>
            <phase>process-resources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>run</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <tasks description="Grab the features and plugins from
               the Eclipse SDK that have been found empirically to
               be required as part of the target platform. We will
               upload them to the Maven repository in the next phase.">
                <mkdir dir="${eclipse.target.dir}/plugins"/>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.target.dir}/plugins">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.source.dir}/plugins">
                    <include name="com.ibm.icu_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ant.core_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.compare_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.commands_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.contenttype_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.databinding_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.expressions_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.filebuffers_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.filesystem_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.jobs_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.net_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.resources_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.runtime.compatibility.auth_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.runtime_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.core.variables_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.debug.core_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.equinox.app_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.equinox.common_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.equinox.preferences_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.equinox.registry_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.help_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jdt.core_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jdt.debug_*/**/*"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jdt.launching_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jface.databinding_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jface.text_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.jface_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.osgi_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.rcp.source.win32.win32.x86_*/**/*"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.swt.win32.win32.x86_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.swt_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.team.core_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.team.ui_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.text_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.console_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.editors_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.forms_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.ide_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.navigator_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.navigator.resources_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.views_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.views.properties.tabbed_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.workbench_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.ui.workbench.texteditor_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.update.configurator_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.update.core_*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.eclipse.update.ui_*.jar"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
                <mkdir dir="${eclipse.target.dir}/features"/>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.target.dir}/features">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.source.dir}/features">
                    <include name="none_*"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.target.dir}/plugins"
                  failonerror="false">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.ext.dir}/plugins">
                    <include name="org.polarion.team.svn.client.javahl.win32_*/**/*"/>
                    <include name="org.polarion.team.svn*.jar"/>
                    <include name="org.sf.easyexplore_*.jar"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.target.dir}/features"
                  failonerror="false">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.ext.dir}/features">
                    <include name="none_*"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.target.dir}/plugins"
                  failonerror="false">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.usr.dir}/plugins">
                    <include name="none_*"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
                <copy todir="${eclipse.usr.dir}/features"
                  failonerror="false">
                  <fileset dir="${eclipse.ext.dir}/features">
                    <include name="none_*"/>
                  </fileset>
                </copy>
              </tasks>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>installation</id>
            <phase>install</phase>
            <configuration>
              <eclipseDir>${eclipse.target.dir}</eclipseDir>
            </configuration>
            <goals>
              <goal>to-maven</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>deployment</id>
            <phase>deploy</phase>
            <configuration>
              <eclipseDir>${eclipse.target.dir}</eclipseDir>
              <deployTo>${distributionManagement.repository.id}::default::${distributionManagement.repository.url}</deployTo>
            </configuration>
            <goals>
              <goal>to-maven</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

  <!-- ******************************************************************
    Project Information
    ****************************************************************** -->
  <organization>
    <name>....</name>
    <url>http://..../</url>
  </organization>

  <developers>
    <developer>
      <id>ihu</id>
      <name>Immo H&uuml;neke</name>
      <email>ihu@zuhlke.com</email>
      <url>http://aspsp.blogspot.com/</url>
      <organization>Z&uuml;hlke Engineering</organization>
      <organizationUrl>http://www.zuhlke.com/</organizationUrl>
      <roles>
        <role>architect</role>
        <role>developer</role>
      </roles>
      <timezone>0</timezone>
      <properties>
        <picUrl>http://www.spaconference.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/?mugimmohuneke.jpg</picUrl>
      </properties>
    </developer>
  </developers>

  <inceptionYear>2008</inceptionYear>

</project>

Hope this helps. If you still have problems, please e-mail me your Maven output - I may be able to guess where it is going wrong.