m2eclipse is more than just a simple plugin, it changes the way you'll create projects. Specifically, it will allow you to create projects from archetypes without having to type a command-line the size of a paragraph. I just updated the m2eclipse chapter and included more details about the 88 available archetypes in the Maven repository.
On deck for the book is information about the POM editor...
The following is an excerpt from the chapter. What is interesting about the m2eclipse plugin is that it has the side-effect of making it easier to adopt the projects that have created Maven Archetypes. Granted, this project list could be larger, but it should be interesting to someone who wants to get a quickstart into developing an application with Wicket or AppFuse. The other thing that is very cool about m2eclipse is that it doesn't ship with a static list of archetypes, m2eclipse is using the Nexus Indexer to maintain an index of the Maven repository.
When this chapter was last updated, m2eclipse had
approximately ninety archetypes in this Archetype dialog. Highlights of
this list include:
[4]And these were just the archetypes that were listed under
the Nexus Indexer Catalog, if you switch Catalogs you'll see other
archetypes. While your results may vary, the following additional
archetypes were available in the Internal Catalog:
-
Atlassian
Confluence Plugin Archetype under
com.atlassian.maven.archetypes
-
Apache Struts
Archetypes under org.apache.struts
-
Apache Shale Archetypes under
org.apache.shale
