Adding the current date with Maven2 filtering

Question

I have a Maven2 project, and I need to add, in a properties file, the current version and the current date.

For the current version, I've used ${project.version}, which works correctly.

My question is how can I set the current date (i.e. the date when the build is done by Maven2) in my properties file:

client.version=Version ${project.version}
client.build=???

(in addition, if I can specify the format for the date, it will be really great)

Answer 1

You can use the Maven Buildnumber Plugin for this:

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
      <artifactId>buildnumber-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <executions>
        <execution>
          <phase>initialize</phase>
          <goals>
            <goal>create</goal>
          </goals>
        </execution>
      </executions>
      <configuration>
        <doCheck>false</doCheck>
        <doUpdate>false</doUpdate>
        <timestampFormat>{0,date,yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss}</timestampFormat>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

The date is then available in the property ${buildNumber}.