How should I trust Apache Maven?

Question

Hey,

I just faced this bug with Maven:

http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/ARCHETYPE-304?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Achangehistory-tabpanel

And it looks that it is not solved yet.

How should I trust Maven and adopt it as our build tool?

Answer 1

Looks more like a bug of that particular archetype, rather than a bug of maven itself.

Having said that, every software has bugs. Even if you buy software, they will still have bugs. In fact, a lot of proprietary software have more bugs than opensource software in my opinion.

Practical advice: See if other people are using it and how they feel. If most people are okay with it, try it a little bit. If that is okay, no reason you shouldn't use it. Then, in case you have trouble, poke around a little bit. Often you can find a workaround. If that doesn't help, go to forums etc. and ask people. In case of maven, it is such a widely used tool that getting information is very easy. Now should that not help, you can always fix the bug yourself :)

In your particular case, workarounds include:
1) Generate the necessary structure yourself.
2) Fix the archetype yourself
3) Use something else to get whatever you want, then mavenize that.
4) Ditch maven.

Answer 2

Looks at other build tools' bug lists and honestly tell us whether you think they have dramatically less bugs in proportion to features. I don't think you will. It sucks when something you're using has a bug that affects you, but it happens. At least with Maven there is a large community and the possibility to fix it yourself if it's that important. If one bug is enough to make you doubt the entire thing, I'm afraid you're going to run into a lot of disappointment elsewhere as well.

Answer 3

How should I trust Maven and adopt it as our build tool?

I'm assuming that this is NOT a rhetorical question ...

1. Lots of other people trust Maven enough to have adopted it as their build tool. I cannot give you exact numbers, but it has got to be hundreds of thousands, or more.

2. One can always use software with known bugs in it. For example, I use Eclipse despite the fact that there are many bugs in it ... and I've seen a few myself. And I see browser crashes and incorrect webpage renderings, etc. I'm sure you knowingly use buggy software every day.

3. Buggy software usually has workarounds. The problem you are encountering has an obvious workaround. Just skip the archetype bit and create the project structure yourself by hand.

4. If you are really just looking for an reason/excuse to NOT use Maven, this will do. Hey, it is your project. Do what you like. But bear in mind that you risk your project being left with a legacy of using "old fashioned" build technology, and that may have implications down the track.