Maven - Artifact - (Component|Module|Library)

About

Code Shipping - Artifact (Module|Component) in Maven.

An Artifact is the data storage unit of a repository.

It's at the same time:

• the distribution unit to distribute
• and the dependency unit to use

(Ie artifacts can be transferred to and from repositories)

Artifacts are generally resources generated by an application such as:

• website
• jar/war

but can be any file.

Generally, they are simply library packaged as JAR file from a project.

Articles Related

Identifier / Coordinates

A coordinates is a property that defines uniquely an artifact.

See What are Java Coordinates?

Naming

A typical artifact produced by Maven would have the form:

<artifactId>-<version>-<classifier>.<extension> 

where:

• artifactid
• version
• classifier
• packaging (zip, jar, …)

In many cases, the dependencies will refer to jar artifacts with no classifier.

for example,

• myapp-1.0-windows64.jar

artifactId

The artifactId is the Maven jargon for the project name (ie a project descriptive name).

artifactId indicates the unique base name of an artifact.

Secondary artifacts like source bundles also use the artifactId as part of their final name.