Access SVN version and build date from maven

Sometimes we need to show or save information about application build. This information may include sources version (from VCS that you use), build date, database versions, etc. If you build your application with Maven there is easy way to access this information.

To do this check buildnumber-maven-plugin. This plugin is used to build extended build version. To access SVN version and build timestamp (not formatted date) you need to add following plugin configuration to maven pom.xml:

<plugins>
     ....
   <plugin>
      <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
      <artifactId>buildnumber-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <buildNumberPropertyName>sources.version</buildNumberPropertyName>               
        <timestampPropertyName>build.timestamp</timestampPropertyName>
      </configuration>
      <executions>
        <execution>
            <phase>validate</phase>
            <goals>
                 <goal>create</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
      </executions>
   </plugin>
</plugins>

These variables may be used to build project version, to label project artifacts or just to provide this information to end user like in following example:

- Add file version.properties to you maven module resources:

application.sources.version=${sources.version}
application.build.date=${build.timestamp}

- Add filtering section for this file to the maven pom.xml:

     <resources>
            ....

          <resource>
              <directory>${basedir}/src/main/resources</directory>
              <includes>
                  <include>version.properties</include>
              </includes>
              <filtering>true</filtering>
          </resource>
     </resources>

Now you have more control on application version. Develop with pleasure!