Eclipse

The Maven eclipse:eclipse goal generates metadata that allows you to import and build the project in Eclipse.

Running the Eclipse Goal

First make sure you have Maven installed. From your command line run which mvn. If installed and properly configured it should return something like /usr/local/bin/mvn.

From the project root run mvn eclipse:eclipse. If successful, this will generate two files: .project and .classpath. To import the project into Eclipse, select Import... from the File menu and navigate to the project root.

Configuring the m2e Plugin

mvn eclipse:eclipse is not compatible with m2e, Eclipse’s built-in Maven plug-in. mvn eclipse:eclipse creates a static list of library dependencies in the .classpath project metadata, while m2e manages the classpath dynamically, based on the dependencies declared in the POM.

Navigate your favorite text (or XML) editor to the project root and open the .project and .classpath files.

To .project, add

<buildCommand>
  <name>org.eclipse.m2e.core.maven2Builder</name>
</buildCommand>

to the buildSpec element and

<nature>org.eclipse.m2e.core.maven2Nature</nature>

to the natures element.

In .classpath, remove all entries starting with M2_REPO and add

<classpathentry kind="con" path="org.eclipse.m2e.MAVEN2_CLASSPATH_CONTAINER"/>

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See also M2Eclipse (m2e) Support for Maven Eclipse Plugin Projects.