Maven settings.xml file

What does the settings.xml file do, and why configure it?

As you can see from the file name settings.xml, it is the configuration file used to set maven parameters. Also, settings.xml is the global configuration file for maven. The pom.xml file is a partial configuration of the project.

Settings.xml contains configurations such as local repository location, modification of remote repository servers, authentication information, and more.

settings.xml file location

Settings.xml files generally exist in two locations:

Global configuration: ${M2_HOME}/conf/settings.xml

User configuration: user.home/.m2/settings.xmlnote: User configuration takes precedence over global configuration.

{user.home} and all other system properties are only available on version 3.0+. Note the difference between Windows and Linux using variables.

configuration priority level

Note that local configuration takes precedence over global configuration.

Configuration priority from high to low: pom.xml> user settings > global settings

If these files exist simultaneously, their contents are merged when the configuration is applied, and if there are duplicate configurations, the higher priority configuration overrides the lower priority configuration.