03. Maven, Gradle

1. Maven

📂 Project Structure (Standard Directory Layout) mavenstructure.jpeg

📄 Minimal pom.xml

<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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>demo</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
    <properties>
        <java.version>17</java.version>
        <spring.boot.version>3.2.0</spring.boot.version>
    </properties>
    <dependencies>
        <!-- Starter Web (Spring MVC, Tomcat, Jackson) -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <!-- JUnit 5 + Mockito -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <!-- Run Spring Boot via mvn spring-boot:run -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

🔧 Main Maven Commands

mvn clean          # Cleans target/
mvn compile         # Compiles java
mvn validate       # Checks project structure, presence of all necessary files
mvn test            # Runs tests
mvn test-compile   # Compiles test code (src/test/java)
mvn package         # Builds jar/war in target/
mvn install         # Installs artifact in local repository (~/.m2)
mvn deploy          # Sends artifact to remote repository
                  # (Nexus, Artifactory)
mvn site            # Generates site with project documentation
mvn verify          # Runs integration tests and code quality checks
mvn dependency:tree # Dependency tree (very useful!)
mvn dependency:list  # List of all project dependencies
mvn dependency:analyze # Shows unused and undeclared dependencies
mvn help:effective-pom # Outputs the final POM considering inheritance and profiles
 
mvn versions:display-dependency-updates # Shows available new versions
                                        # of dependencies
 
mvn archetype:generate # Creates a new project from a template (archetype)
 
###############
# Spring Boot #
###############
mvn spring-boot:run      # Runs Spring Boot application
mvn clean spring-boot:run  # Cleans target, then runs.
 
mvn package spring-boot:repackage # Packages and then "repackages" JAR/WAR  # in executable fat/uber JAR with embedded
                                    # launcher.
mvn spring-boot:repackage  # Only "repackage" if package has already
                                    # been created.
mvn spring-boot:build-image  # Builds **OCI image** container via
                                # Cloud Native Buildpacks (Paketo), without
                                # Dockerfile.
mvn spring-boot:start      # Starts application in the background for
                                # integration tests
mvn spring-boot:stop       # Stops application started by start.
 
mvn spring-boot:build-info  # Generates META-INF/build-info.properties
                                # (version, build time, etc.) for
                                # /actuator/info.
mvn spring-boot:process-aot  # AOT code preparation (Boot 3.x): generates
                                # helper classes for faster
                                # startup/minimizing reflection.
mvn spring-boot:process-test-aot # AOT for tests.
mvn spring-boot:help -Ddetail=true # Help on plugin goals and their parameters.
 
###############
# SONAR  #
###############
mvn clean verify sonar:sonar -Dsonar.projectKey=clavionx-web -Dsonar.projectName='Сlavionx' -Dsonar.host.url=http://localhost:9000 -Dsonar.token=sqp_3606ea94664b701db82c3a1b3c0ad9b8a0ffecfc
mvn clean verify sonar:sonar -Psonar
 
**📄 Spring Profiles in Maven**
In application.properties/application.yml, specify profiles:
```Powershell
spring.profiles.active=dev

Run with a profile:

mvn spring-boot:run -Pprod

📌 Useful Maven Plugins

<build>
    <plugins>
        <!-- Code quality: Checkstyle -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.1</version>
        </plugin>
 
        <!-- Unit tests -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.5</version>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

2. Gradle

📂 Project Structure Same as Maven (src/main/java, src/test/java). Configuration file: build.gradle (Groovy DSL) or build.gradle.kts (Kotlin DSL).

📄 Minimal build.gradle

plugins {
    id 'java'
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '3.2.0'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.3'
}
group = 'com.example'
version = '1.0.0'
java {
    sourceCompatibility = '17'
}
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
}
tasks.named('test') {
    useJUnitPlatform()
}

🔧 Main Gradle Commands

gradle clean          # Cleans build/
gradle build         # Builds jar
gradle test           # Runs tests
gradle bootRun        # Runs Spring Boot
gradle dependencies   # Shows dependencies

📄 Spring Profiles in Gradle In application.properties/application.yml, specify profiles:

spring.profiles.active=prod

Run with a profile:

gradle bootRun --args='--spring.profiles.active=prod'

📌 Useful Gradle Plugins

plugins {
    id 'checkstyle' // code style
    id 'jacoco'   // code coverage
}

3. Differences Maven vs Gradle

🛠️ Characteristic	Maven (pom.xml)	Gradle (build.gradle)
Configuration Language	XML (rigid)	Groovy/Kotlin DSL (flexible)
Learning Curve	Low	Higher (need to know DSL)
Speed	Slower	Faster (caching, parallelism)
Customization	Limited	Very flexible
Popularity	Dominates	Growing rapidly
Where it’s more common	Spring Boot projects, banks, government structures	Microservices, DevOps-heavy projects
Dependency Tree	Check with `mvn dependency:tree`	Check with `gradle dependencies`

4. Best Practices

✅ Use Spring Boot Starter packages (they save you from manually selecting dependencies).
✅ Create profiles dev/test/prod → for configs, logging, DB.
✅ In large projects: Gradle (speeds up CI/CD).
✅ For interviews and first pet projects: Maven (simpler and more documentation).
✅ Check the dependency tree (mvn dependency:tree, gradle dependencies) — this saves you from conflicts.

📌 Conclusion

Maven = standard, simplicity, excellent documentation.
Gradle = flexibility, speed, the real choice for modern microservices.
Both are supported by Spring Boot equally.

For interviews → learn Maven. Once you master it → then learn Gradle.

VBO Wiki

Explorer

03. Maven, Gradle

1. Maven

2. Gradle

3. Differences Maven vs Gradle

4. Best Practices

Table of Contents

Backlinks