maven包阶段创建的war文件和maven war plugin war：war目标创建的war文件之间有什么区别吗？

Question

I would to know if a war file created using maven package phase would be equal to a war file created using maven war plugin war:war goal.

Assuming we have a pom.xml (extract) like this:

<groupId>com.mycompany.app</groupId>
<artifactId>my-app</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>war</packaging>

 ...
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <configuration>
          <webappDirectory>/sample/servlet/container/deploy/directory</webappDirectory>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
  ...

I mean, it's necessary to have the plugin to build a war file (with no special restriction or feature). Please fee free to add any comment or suggestion. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

They are absolutelly equal. The purpose of plugin block with maven-war-plugin description is - for example - change default webappDirectory value. See more: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-war-plugin/usage.html