mvncfg

README

mvncfg

A tiny CLI to switch between Maven settings.xml profiles.

Table of contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
  • Quick install
  • Using go install
  • From a GitHub release
  • From source
• Shell completion
• Usage
• File layout
• Development
• Platform support

Features

• init — initialize the ~/.m2/profiles directory and a default profile.
• list — list available Maven profiles.
• current — show the active profile.
• use <profile> — switch to another profile.
• create <profile> — create a new profile from a default settings.xml template.
• delete <profile> — delete a profile (cannot delete the active one).
• rename <old> <new> — rename a profile (updates the symlink if active).
• install-completion — set up shell completion for bash or zsh.
• version / --version — show the installed version.

Requirements

• Go 1.26+ (only for go install or building from source).
• Linux, macOS, or Windows.

On Linux and macOS, the active profile is a symlink at ~/.m2/settings.xml. On Windows, where symlinks require special privileges, settings.xml is instead a plain copy of the active profile and mvncfg records the active profile name in ~/.m2/profiles/.active. Consequence on Windows: editing a profile file directly does not update the active settings.xml — re-run mvncfg use <profile> to apply changes.

Installation

Quick install

Clone the repository and run the install script:

git clone https://github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg.git && cd mvncfg && ./install.sh

Using go install

go install github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg/cmd/mvncfg@latest

Make sure $HOME/go/bin (or $GOPATH/bin) is in your PATH.

From a GitHub release

Download the binary for your platform from the releases page, make it executable, and place it in a directory in your PATH.

Example for Linux amd64:

curl -sL -o ~/.local/bin/mvncfg https://github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg/releases/latest/download/mvncfg-linux-amd64
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/mvncfg

Example for Windows amd64 (PowerShell):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg/releases/latest/download/mvncfg-windows-amd64.exe -OutFile "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\mvncfg\mvncfg.exe"

Make sure the destination directory is in your PATH.

From source

git clone https://github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg.git
cd mvncfg
go build -o ~/.local/bin/mvncfg ./cmd/mvncfg

Or use the provided install script from the clone:

git clone https://github.com/Thomas-PEYROT/mvncfg.git
cd mvncfg
./install.sh

By default, ./install.sh installs to ~/.local/bin and configures completion for your current shell. You can force a specific shell:

./install.sh zsh
./install.sh bash

Shell completion

Completion is available for bash and zsh (on Windows, use Git Bash or WSL).

After installing the binary:

mvncfg install-completion

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc

Usage

mvncfg init                  # initialize profiles directory and default profile
mvncfg list                  # list available profiles
mvncfg current               # show the active profile
mvncfg use <profile>         # activate a profile
mvncfg create <profile>      # create a new profile from a default template
mvncfg delete <profile>      # delete a profile (not the active one)
mvncfg rename <old> <new>    # rename a profile
mvncfg install-completion    # install shell completion
mvncfg help [command]        # show help
mvncfg version               # show version
mvncfg --version             # show version

File layout

mvncfg expects Maven profiles to live in ~/.m2/profiles/ and manages the active configuration via ~/.m2/settings.xml (a symlink on Linux/macOS, a plain copy on Windows).

~/.m2/
├── profiles/
│   ├── default.xml
│   ├── work.xml
│   ├── personal.xml
│   └── .active          # Windows only: name of the active profile
└── settings.xml -> profiles/work.xml

Development

go test ./...
go build ./cmd/mvncfg

Platform support

Platform	Architecture	Status
Linux	amd64, arm64	✅ supported
macOS	amd64, arm64	✅ supported
Windows	amd64, arm64	✅ supported