# The Groovy Eclipse Maven plugin

version 2.4.3

Groovy-Eclipse provides a compiler plugin for Maven. Using the compiler plugin, it is possible to compile your maven projects using the Groovy-Eclipse compiler.

The most recent version of the Groovy-Eclipse-Compiler plugin for maven is 2.9.1-01. The most recent version of the groovy-eclipse-batch artifact is 2.3.7-01. They are both available from maven central.

## 1. How to use the compiler plugin—Setting up the POM

In the plugin section, change the compiler used by the maven-compiler-plugin. Like the javac ant task, the maven-compiler-plugin does not actually compile, but rather delegates the compilation to a different artifact (in our case, the `groovy-eclipse-batch` artifact):

    <build>
        ...
        <plugins>
          <plugin>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <!-- 2.8.0-01 and later require maven-compiler-plugin 3.1 or higher -->
            <version>3.1</version>
            <configuration>
              <compilerId>groovy-eclipse-compiler</compilerId>
            </configuration>
            <dependencies>
              <dependency>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
                <artifactId>groovy-eclipse-compiler</artifactId>
                <version>2.9.1-01</version>
              </dependency>
              <!-- for 2.8.0-01 and later you must have an explicit dependency on groovy-eclipse-batch -->
              <dependency>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
                <artifactId>groovy-eclipse-batch</artifactId>
                <version>2.3.7-01</version>
              </dependency>
            </dependencies>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
        ...
    </build>

This will allow Groovy files to be compiled. The groovy-eclipse-compiler recognizes all settings supported by the maven-compiler-plugin.

Remember that you still need to specify a groovy artifact as a build dependency in addition to the `maven-compiler-plugin` dependency. The groovy dependency version should match the compiler version. Something like this:

    <dependencies>
      ...
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
        <artifactId>groovy-all</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.7</version>
      </dependency>
      ...
    </dependencies>

Note that the groovy-eclipse-compiler and groovy-eclipse-batch artifacts are available in Maven-central, so there is no need to explicitly declare any extra repositories.

## 2. Setting up the source folders

There are several ways to set up your maven project to recognize Groovy source files

### 2.1. Do nothing

The simplest way to set up your source folders is to do nothing at all: add all of your Groovy files to `src/main/java` and `src/test/java`. This requires absolutely no extra configuration and is easy to implement. However, this is not a standard maven approach to setting up your project. If you require a more standard maven approach, then it is possible to put your Groovy files in `src/main/groovy` and `src/test/groovy` and you Java files in `src/main/java` and `src/test/java`. There are several ways of doing this.

### 2.2. Do almost nothing

If there is at least one file (Java or not) in `src/main/java`, then all files in `src/main/groovy` will be found. If, however, `src/main/java` is empty, then `src/main/groovy` will be ignored. You can get around this by placing an empty file in `src/main/java` just so that `src/main/groovy` will be recognized. The same is true for `src/test/java` and `src/test/groovy`. This is actually a workaround for GRECLIPSE-1221.

### 2.3. Use the `groovy-eclipse-compiler` mojo for configuring source folders

(You only need this approach if your project has an empty `src/main/java` or `src/test/java`.)

If your project has no Java files and you don’t want to add an empty file in `src/main/java`, then you can configure source files by referencing the groovy-eclipse-compiler mojo. Just add this to the `plugins` section of your pom:

    <build>
      ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
        <artifactId>groovy-eclipse-compiler</artifactId>
        <version>2.9.1-01</version>
        <extensions>true</extensions>
      </plugin>
      ...
    </build>

The `<extensions>true</extensions>` section is important because this redefines the default lifecycle of your project so that an extra phase is added. This phase has an extra goal attached to it that adds the two Groovy source folders.

### 2.4. Use the `build-helper-maven-plugin`

(You only need this approach if your project has an empty `src/main/java` or `src/test/java`.)

The `build-helper-maven-plugin` allows you to do things like adding extra source folders to your project without needing to redefine the default lifecycle. You need to add this configuration to your build plugin section:

    <build>
      ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.5</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>add-source</id>
            <phase>generate-sources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>add-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <sources>
                <source>src/main/groovy</source>
              </sources>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>add-test-source</id>
            <phase>generate-test-sources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>add-test-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <sources>
                <source>src/test/groovy</source>
              </sources>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      ...
    </build>

The benefit of using this approach is that you do not need to make any changes to the default lifecycle. The downside is, of course, that you need 31 lines of configuration to do this!

## 3. Source code

The source code for the plugin itself is available from the github repository.

## 4. Why another Groovy compiler for Maven? What about GMaven?

GMaven 2.0 and later no longer supports compilation. You can read more about this on the GMaven 2 project page. GMaven 1.x is now deprecated.

GMaven 1.x had limitations over the groovy-eclipse-compiler and for the following reasons GMaven 2.0 compilation is no longer supported:

1. The compiler plugin does not require the creation of Java stubs so that your Groovy files can compile against Java files. This will prevent some arcane compile errors from appearing.

2. The Groovy-Eclipse compiler is the same inside Eclipse and inside Maven, and so configuration across the two platforms can be simplified.

3. The compiler plugin is a standard compiler plugin for Maven. It therefore follows all allows all the same standard configuration that the Javac compiler plugin uses. This makes it simpler to introduce Groovy into an existing Maven project. All you need to do is change the compiler plugin that the pom references.

There are still some reasons to use GMaven:

1. GroovyDoc tool is not supported because the compiler plugin does not produce stubs.

2. Groovy Mojos are not supported.

3. Groovy scripts cannot be executed in your poms.

Whether or not the Groovy-Eclipse compiler plugin for Maven is appropriate for your project will depend on your requirements.

## 5. Project Lombok

Project Lombok is compatible with the groovy-eclipse-compiler. There is some extra configuration that you need to do. The lombok jar needs to be added to both the build and compile dependencies sections:

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
      <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
      <version>1.14.8</version>
    </dependency>

Also, the following configuration needs to be added to the maven-compiler-plugin configuration:

    <configuration>
      <compilerId>groovy-eclipse-compiler</compilerId>
      <verbose>true</verbose>
      <compilerArguments>
        <javaAgentClass>lombok.core.Agent</javaAgentClass>
      </compilerArguments>
      <fork>true</fork>
    </configuration>

## 6. Groovy-Eclipse configurator for m2Eclipse

If you are going to be working with your maven project inside of Eclipse, it is strongly recommended that you use m2eclipse. And to use your Groovy projects with m2eclipse, you will need to install the Groovy-Eclipse configurator for m2eclipse. This feature is available any of the Groovy-Eclipse update sites (e.g., nightly, milestone, or release). Just go to your Eclipse update manager and add the Groovy-Eclipse update sites (if you haven’t done so already). Select the Groovy-Eclipse M2E integration.

## 7. Release Builds

Eclipse level | Release update site
--- | ---
4.4 | http://dist.springsource.org/release/GRECLIPSE/e4.4
4.3 | http://dist.springsource.org/release/GRECLIPSE/e4.3
4.3-j8 | http://dist.springsource.org/release/GRECLIPSE/e4.3-j8 (Includes the Java 8 Patch for Eclipse 4.3)
4.2 | http://dist.springsource.org/release/GRECLIPSE/e4.2
3.7 | http://dist.springsource.org/release/GRECLIPSE/e3.7 (untested, provided 'as is')

## 8. Development Builds

Eclipse level | Development update site
--- | ---
4.4 | http://dist.springsource.org/snapshot/GRECLIPSE/e4.4
4.3 | http://dist.springsource.org/snapshot/GRECLIPSE/e4.3

The Groovy-Eclipse configurator for m2eclipse is not compatible with AspectJ or Scala. So you cannot use a joint AspectJ/Scala/Groovy project in Eclipse. These languages must be separated into separate sub-projects.

## 9. Where to find more information and ask questions

Please ask all questions on the Groovy-Eclipse mailing list. Any bugs or feature enhancements should go to the Groovy-Eclipse’s jira.