Let's have a quick look at a real-world example, which uses the assembly plugin.

WSO2 Identity Server (WSO2 IS) is an open source identity and entitlement management product distributed under the Apache 2.0 license as a ZIP file. The ZIP distribution is assembled using the Maven assembly plugin. Let's have a look at the root POM file of the distribution module of WSO2 IS, which builds the Identity Server distribution, available at https://svn.wso2.org/repos/wso2/carbon/platform/branches/turing/products/is/5.0.0/modules/distribution/pom.xml.

First, pay attention to the plugins section of the POM file. Here, you can see that maven-assembly-plugin is associated with the project. Inside the plugin configuration, you can define any number of executions with the execution element, which is a child element of the executions element. The configuration is as follows:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin...