How to use an archetype?
    The simple way : 

 mvn archetype:create
        standard call and standard output/prompt and standard generated tree
    Configuring the plugin
        for selection
            -Darchetype.catalog
                This property is used to define the catalogs to search archetypes into. 

 This property hold a comma separated list of catalogs. 

 The valid catalogs are: internal (the default), local, remote, file://path, http://url. 

 - internal uses an internal catalog 

 - local uses the ~/.m2/archetype-catalog.xml file 

 - remote uses the http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/arccchetype-catalog.xml file 

 - file://path uses the catalog file defined by path (or the archetype-catalog.xml file located in path directory) 

 - http://url uses the catalog file defined by url (or the archetype-catalog.xml file located in url web directory)
            -DarchetypeGroupId 

 -DarchetypeArtifactId 

 -DarchetypeVersion 

 -DarchetypeRepository
                When these 4 properties are defined, no catalog is searched. 

 When only archetypeRepository is missing, the first archetype sharing both group and artifact ids found in any catalog gives its repository definition. 

 When archetypeRepository and achetypeVersion are missing, the first archetype sharing both group and artifact ids found in any catalog, gives its repository and version definition. 

 When archetypeGroupId or archetypeArtifactId is missing the standard selection behaviour occurs.
            -Darchetype.interactive
                Defined in settings.xml, this property allow the usage of archetype selection. 

 defaults to @settings.interactiveMode
            @settings.localRepository
                Used to cache downloaded archetypes
        for configuration
            defined using executionProperties 

 

 -DgroupId 

 -DartifactId 

 -Dversion 

 -Dpackage 

 -DanotherVelocityProperty
                these properties are used to configure the created project 

 groupId (defaults to com.company) 

 artifactId (defaults to project) 

 version (defaults to 1.0-SNAPSHOT) 

 package (defaults to groupId.artifactId)
                these properties should be renamed to 

 target.groupId 

 target.artifactId 

 target.version 

 target.package
            -Darchetype.interactive
                Defined in settings.xml, this property allow the usage of archetype selection. 

 defaults to @settings.interactiveMode
        for generation
            -DarchetypeGoals
                comma separated list of goals called against the project after been created
            @basedir
                the directory where the project will be created
        for batch mode
    Beeing behind a proxy is automatically configured by Maven