Eclipse m2e multi-module project checkout and convert to maven

Question

I have recently had need to checkout an apache project to do some fact-finding/debugging (specifically maven-surefire-plugin, see this question). This, like most other apache projects, is a maven multi-module project. So, in eclipse, I open up the SVN Repositories browswer, add a new repository, find the project and right-click->Checkout.... In the wizard, I click Checkout as a project in the workspace and type in the name of the project.

I have the project, now I need to let eclipse know its a maven project, so right-click->Configure->Convert to Maven Project. Now the parent project is a maven project. I can right-click->Run As->Maven Build and it works. But, all the modules are just folders. Eclipse doesn't know anything about where the source code is or even if it has any. In a single module project it would have set the source folder, build folder and other configuration automatically. Further more, if you are creating a multi-module project from scratch, you start by creating the parent project, then, when you add modules to it, they each show up as individual projects in eclipse with the physical directory living under the parent project folder as needed by the default maven build process.

So now, knowing how its done when creating new projects I can File->New->Project..., choose General->Project, give the project a name (I match it to the module name), uncheck Use default location and set Location: to the path on to the module inside of the parent project folder. After clicking Finish, and repeating the process for each other module I have something that looks similar to what I would expect. I now need to convert every individual module to a maven module in the same fashion as the parent project. Great, they are all maven projects, right?

So then I open them up, and the source folder is not set.

Argh... Then I go to each project, twist it open, and on the src folder I right-click->Build Path->Use as Source Folder. Lather, rinse, repeat... Once done on all the projects, it really looks and feels like I started this project from scratch. Things function.

My question is, is it really this hard? Am I missing a shortcut? Wouldn't it make sense if Configure->Convert to Maven Project on the parent pom realized it was a multi-module project and did all the work for me? This is a very painful process for apache projects as they all seem to have many, many, modules... Anyone know of a better process?

Answer 1

You could try to pull all the code down outside of Eclipse, import the parent project as an existing Maven project (right-click -> Import... -> Existing Maven Projects), and see if it all comes in the way you expect. Then right-click -> Team -> Share Project... on the parent project.