Maven Plugins are used for:
- Creating JAR files.
- Creating WAR files.
- Compiling the source code files.
- Unit testing of the code.
- Creating the project documentation.
- Creating project reports.
Maven plugins are divided into two categories:
- Build plugins: These plugins are used throughout the build process and are configured in the pom.xml file's <build/> element.
- Reporting plugins: These plugins are configured in the pom.xml's <reporting/> element and run during stage generation.