Maven only has 20 FAQs on its page here. I’ve been working with it on a project recently, and frankly I had plenty more than 20 to ask. Here’s my list of a few things that I hope will help people when they’re searching for answers not described well in the Maven documentation.

How do I get a plain file (*.txt) included into my deployment file (i.e. jar, war, ear)?
Maven’s default file structure looks like ${projectBase}/src/main. The compile target looks for production code under ${projectBase}/src/main/java. It looks for other files to include with your production deployment in ${projectBase}/src/main/resources. Adding your file to that directory will automatically include them in your deployment file.

When Maven downloads its dependencies, where does it store those files on a windows machine?
Look for files under C:\Documents and Settings\${userName}\.m2\repository.

Why doesn’t a feature from JDK5 or 6 work?
By default, Maven compiles against JDK1.3. Set the source and target JDK where you have your compile target:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
        <source>1.5</source>
        <target>1.5</target>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

How can I create a single deployment file with all dependent libraries merged?
Instead of using the maven-jar-plugin plugin, use the maven-assembly-plugin. Here’s an example

<plugin>
     <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
     <configuration>
          <descriptorRefs>
               <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
          </descriptorRefs>
          <archive>
               <manifest>
                    <mainClass>com.thekua.spikes.App</mainClass>
               </manifest>
          </archive>
     </configuration>
     <executions>
          <execution>
               <id>make-assembly</id>
               <phase>package</phase>
               <goals>
                    <goal>attached</goal>
               </goals>
          </execution>
     </executions>
</plugin>