Does maven execute module by module or phase by phase

Question

For a multimodule project how does maven executes?

• Does it execute module by module. I mean does it complete all phase on the first module. Then complete all phase in the second module and so on.

or

• Does it complete a single phase on all modules then run second phase on all modules and so on ?

Answer 1

Maven first parse all multi-module tree. Checks dependencies. If project B dependence on project A project A is build first. The order from <module> has second priority.

And one general rule - always add <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath> to child poms.

You can not have cycles.

Answer 2

Module by module. maven invokes all the relevant life cycle phases specified by the command on each module, one after the other. Also read the guide to working with multiple modules