How to timestamp an output artifact in Maven?

Question

I am trying to find out if Maven has some built-in plug-in that can be used to time-stamp artifacts. I created an assembly file and am using the maven-assembly plugin to create a final distribution (jars,docs,scripts, etc). I want to name this distribution file as domain_year_month_day.zip. How can I append the day portion of a timestamp to the end of the final zip file that is being produced. Thanks.

Answer 1

You could use the maven-timestamp-plugin to set a property (e.g. timestamp) and use it later in the final name of your assembly.

<plugin>
   <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
   <executions>
       <execution>
           <id>create-assembly</id>
           <phase>package</phase>
           <goals>
               <goal>single</goal>
           </goals>
           <configuration>
               <appendAssemblyId>false</appendAssemblyId>
               <finalName>domain_${timestamp}</finalName>
               <descriptors>
                   <descriptor>src/main/assembly/my-descriptor.xml</descriptor>
               </descriptors>
               <attach>true</attach>
           </configuration>
       </execution>
   </executions>
</plugin>

As an alternative, you could put some Groovy code in your POM using the GMaven plugin:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.codehaus.gmaven</groupId>
  <artifactId>gmaven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.3</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <id>set-custom-property</id>
      <phase>initialize</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>execute</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <source>
          def timestamp = new Date().format('MM_dd_yy')
          project.properties.setProperty('timestamp', timestamp)
        </source>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
    <execution><!-- for demonstration purpose -->
      <id>show-custom-property</id>
      <phase>generate-resources</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>execute</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <source>
          println project.properties['timestamp']
        </source>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

A sample output showing the property:

$ mvn generate-resources 
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]                                                                         
...
[INFO] --- gmaven-plugin:1.3:execute (set-custom-property) @ Q4081274 ---
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- gmaven-plugin:1.3:execute (show-custom-property) @ Q4081274 ---
11_02_10
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
...

And again, use this property later in the build name of your assembly.