Hey All, There was a private discussion regarding the project layout and maven default conventions. I wanted to put the discussion out in front of everyone else, purely to get feedback and thoughts.
At the moment the src directory contains source *and* resources. Maven has been configured to recognize the src/main/java as the resources and java directory. The reason for this is that it can get tedious to move between the java and resources directory rather than just edit a resource in the same package as the java class. The approach of using the java directory as a dual purpose directory is a departure from Maven's default directory structure. The concern of departing from that structure is that it may cause additional difficulties as we make heavier use of maven for coverage and reporting. If we experience difficulties in the future with Maven (because we all know it can be temperamental) it may be that we start having to separate all the resource files out of the java directory in order to eliminate it as a cause. So in summary... Current reasons for dual purpose java directory: * iBATIS 3 will make use of convention configuration and the visual proximity of resources to java is more visually correct * All around less directory clutter Concerns and counterpoints to making the java directory dual purpose: * Most IDEs can merge the resource and java directories in a package view. * We run the risk of avoiding potential maven headaches with plugins that don't handle the combined java/resources approach. In the end the question would be... Is it better to have coding convenience or follow the maven default approach of separating java and resource? Any experiences and comments are welcome. Brandon