> you need to install the correct Java version and maven Like I said, any version from the last, like, 10+ years (Java and Maven are both serious about backwar

> you need to install the correct Java version and maven Like I said, any version from the last, like, 10+ years (Java and Maven are both serious about backward compatibility), and if you install an ancient version you at least get fail-fast with a reasonable error. > we really should be using gradle by now We really shouldn't. > Adding custom build targets to maven’s build.xml is truly not ideal then there’s people who actually try to write logic in there. Maven doesn't have a build.xml, are you thinking of ant? With maven you write your custom build steps as build plugins, and they're written in plain old Java (or Kotlin, or Scala, or...) code, as plain old Maven modules, with the same kind of ordinary unit testing as your regular code; all your usual code standards apply (e.g. if you want to check your test coverage, you do it the same way as for your regular code - indeed, probably the same configuration you set up for your regular code is already getting applied). That's a lot better than YAML.