Finding the root directory of a multi module maven reactor project

Question

I want to use the maven-dependency-plugin to copy artifacts from all sub-modules of my multi-module project to a directory that is relative to the root directory of the entire project.

That is, my layout looks similar to this, names changed:

to-deploy/
my-project/
    module-a/
    module-b/
    more-modules-1/
        module-c/
        module-d/
    more-modules-2/
        module-e/
        module-f/
    ...

And i want all the artifacts to be copied from the target-directories of their respective modules to my-project/../to-deploy so i end up with

to-deploy/
    module-a.jar
    module-b.jar
    module-c.jar
    module-d.jar
    module-e.jar
    module-f.jar
my-project/
    ...

I could do it with a relative path in each module, like so:

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>copy</id>
                    <phase>install</phase>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>copy</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <artifactItems>
                            <artifactItem>
                                <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
                                <artifactId>${project.artifactId}</artifactId>
                                <version>${project.version}</version>
                                <type>jar</type>
                                <outputDirectory>../../to-deploy</outputDirectory>
                            </artifactItem>
                        </artifactItems>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>

But i'd rather not specify a relative path in the <outputDirectory> element. I'd prefer something like ${reactor.root.directory}/../to-deploy, but i can't find anything like this.

Also, i'd prefer if there was some way to inherit this maven-dependency-plugin configuration so i don't have to specify it for each module.

I also tried inheriting a custom property from the root pom:

<properties>
    <myproject.root>${basedir}</myproject.root>
</properties>

But when i tried to use ${myproject.root} in the module POM's, the ${basedir} would resolve to the basedir of the module.

Also, i found http://labs.consol.de/lang/de/blog/maven/project-root-path-in-a-maven-multi-module-project/ where it's suggested that each developer and presumably the continuous integration server should configure the root directory in a profiles.xml file, but i don't consider it a solution.

So is there an easy way to find the root of a multi-module project?

Answer 1

use ${session.executionRootDirectory}

For the record, ${session.executionRootDirectory} works for me in pom files in Maven 3.0.3. That property will be the directory you're running in, so run the parent project and each module can get the path to that root directory.

I put the plugin configuration that uses this property in the parent pom so that it's inherited. I use it in a profile that I only select when I know that I'm going to run Maven on the parent project. This way, it's less likely that I'll use this variable in an undesired way when I run Maven on a child project (because then the variable would not be the path to the parent).

For example,

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>copy-artifact</id>
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>copy</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
                <artifactItems>
                    <artifactItem>
                        <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
                        <artifactId>${project.artifactId}</artifactId>
                        <version>${project.version}</version>
                        <type>${project.packaging}</type>
                    </artifactItem>
                </artifactItems>
                <outputDirectory>${session.executionRootDirectory}/target/</outputDirectory>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>