Maven Javadoc Plugin

The Javadoc Plugin uses the Javadoc tool to generate javadocs for the specified project. For more information about the standard Javadoc tool, please refer to Reference Guide.

The Javadoc Plugin gets the parameter values that will be used from the plugin configuration specified in the pom. To hold all javadoc arguments, packages or files, the Javadoc Plugin generates argument files and calls the Javadoc tool as follow:

#${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/apidocs/javadoc.exe(or .sh) \
    @options @packages | @argfile

When no configuration values are set, the plugin sets default values instead and then executes the Javadoc tool.

You can also use the plugin to package the generated javadocs into a jar file for distribution.

Goals Overview

The Javadoc Plugin has ten goals:

  • javadoc:javadoc generates the Javadoc files for the project. It executes the standard Javadoc tool and supports the parameters used by the tool.
  • javadoc:test-javadoc generates the test Javadoc files for the project. It executes the standard Javadoc tool and supports the parameters used by the tool.
  • javadoc:aggregate generates the Javadoc files for an aggregator project. It executes the standard Javadoc tool and supports the parameters used by the tool.
  • javadoc:test-aggregate generates the test Javadoc files for an aggregator project. It executes the standard Javadoc tool and supports the parameters used by the tool.
  • javadoc:jar creates an archive file of the generated Javadocs. It is used during the release process to create the Javadoc artifact for the project's release. This artifact is uploaded to the remote repository along with the project's compiled binary and source archive.
  • javadoc:test-jar creates an archive file of the generated Test Javadocs.
  • javadoc:aggregate-jar creates an archive file of the generated Javadocs for an aggregator project.
  • javadoc:test-aggregate-jar creates an archive file of the generated Test Javadocs for an aggregator project.
  • javadoc:fix is an interactive goal which fixes the Javadoc documentation and tags for the Java files.
  • javadoc:test-fix is an interactive goal which fixes the Javadoc documentation and tags for the test Java files.

Usage

General instructions on how to use the Javadoc Plugin can be found on the usage page. Some more specific use cases are described in the examples given below. Last but not least, users occasionally contribute additional examples, tips or errata to the plugin's wiki page.

In case you still have questions regarding the plugin's usage, please have a look at the FAQ and feel free to contact the user mailing list. The posts to the mailing list are archived and could already contain the answer to your question as part of an older thread. Hence, it is also worth browsing/searching the mail archive.

If you feel like the plugin is missing a feature or has a defect, you can fill a feature request or bug report in our issue tracker. When creating a new issue, please provide a comprehensive description of your concern. Especially for fixing bugs it is crucial that the developers can reproduce your problem. For this reason, entire debug logs, POMs or most preferably little demo projects attached to the issue are very much appreciated. Of course, patches are welcome, too. Contributors can check out the project from our source repository and will find supplementary information in the guide to helping with Maven.

Examples

The following examples show how to use the Javadoc Plugin in more advanced usecases: