Curse you, Maven!

We needed to set up a more comprehensive build system than the simple ant scripts we have. A coworker said I should look into Maven 2.0.

Well, I have spent an entire day trying to figure out how to get maven to do an automatic daily build. Sounds pretty simple. You check out, you compile the source directory and you leave the class files in a descriptive location. Well, it's not simple with Maven.

My first clue should have been that the book does not say what Maven is. In fact, the author explicitly states that there is no such definition. In other words: To those who understand Maven no explanation is necessary. To those who don't no explanation is possible. No explanation is available either, as there is very little by way of documentation, in typical Apache fashion. What little there is out there is far too simplistic.

I maintain that if you cannot say what something is in 13 words or less, then there are only two possibilities: You either do not know what it is, or there is no such thing.

Maven, you have broken me. I banish you from my realm.