The Patch Plugin can be configured to apply a single patch to a file as specified:
<project> [...] <build> [...] <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-patch-plugin</artifactId> <version>1.2</version> <configuration> <patches> <patch>mylittle.patch</patch> </patches> </configuration> <executions> <execution> <id>patch</id> <phase>process-sources</phase> <goals> <goal>apply</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> [...] </build> [...] </project>