Custom

<project>
  [...]
  <build>
    [...]
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <configuration>
          <descriptors>
            <descriptor>src/main/assembly/myDescriptor.xml</descriptor>
          </descriptors>
        </configuration>
        [...]
</project>

Descriptor Reference

Pre-defined

There is 4 Pre-defined Descriptor Files:

• bin: to create a binary distribution archive of your project.
• jar-with-dependencies: to create a JAR which contains the binary output of your project See shade
• src: to create source archives for your project
• project: produce an assembly containing the entire project, minus any build output that lands in the target directory.

Example in the pom.xml with the jar-with-dependencies (See the descriptorRefs element)

<project>
  [...]
  <build>
    [...]
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <!-- NOTE: We don't need a groupId specification because the group is
             org.apache.maven.plugins ...which is assumed by default.
         -->
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.4</version>
        <configuration>
          <descriptorRefs>
            <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
          </descriptorRefs>
        </configuration>
        [...]
</project>