The Deploy Plugin has two basic functions. In most project builds, the deploy phase of the build lifecycle is implemented using the deploy:deploy mojo. Also, artifacts which are not built using Maven can be added to any remote repository using the deploy:deploy-file mojo.
The deploy plugin is primarily used during the deploy phase, to add your artifact(s) to a remote repository for sharing with other developers and projects. This is usually done in an integration or release environment. It can also be used to deploy a particular artifact (e.g. a third party jar like Sun's non redistributable reference implementations).
As a repository contains more than the artifacts (POMs, the metadata, MD5 and SHA1 hash files...), deploying means not only copying the artifacts, but making sure all this information is correctly updated. It's the reponsibility of the deploy plugin.
To work, the deployment will require:
- information about the repository: its location, the transport method used to access it (FTP, SCP, SFTP...) and the optional user specific required account information
- information about the artifact(s): the group, artifact, version, packaging, classifier...
- a deployer: a method to actually perform the deployment. This can be implemented as a wagon transport (making it cross-platform), or use a system specific method.
The information will be taken from the implied (or specified) pom and from the command line. The settings.xml file may also be parsed to retrieve user credentials.
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-deploy-plugin/
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-deploy-plugin/usage.html