<settings>
<localRepository/> The local repository.
<interactiveMode/> Whether Maven should attempt to interact with the user for input.
<usePluginRegistry/> Whether Maven should use the plugin-registry.xml file to manage plugin versions.
<offline/> Indicate whether maven should operate in offline mode full-time.
<proxies> Configuration for different proxy profiles. Multiple proxy profiles might come in handy for anyone working from a notebook or other mobile platform, to enable easy switching of entire proxy configurations by simply specifying the profile id, again either from the command line or from the defaults section below.
<proxy> The <proxy> element contains informations required to a proxy settings.
<active/> Whether this proxy configuration is the active one.
<protocol/> The proxy protocol.
<username/> The proxy user.
<password/> The proxy password.
<port/> The proxy port.
<host/> The proxy host.
<nonProxyHosts/> The list of non-proxied hosts (delimited by |).
<id/>
</proxy>
</proxies>
<servers> Configuration of server-specific settings, mainly authentication method. This allows configuration of authentication on a per-server basis.
<server> The <server> element contains informations required to a server settings.
<username/> The username used to authenticate.
<password/> The password used in conjunction with the username to authenticate.
<privateKey/> The private key location used to authenticate.
<passphrase/> The passphrase used in conjunction with the privateKey to authenticate.
<filePermissions/> The permissions for files when they are created.
<directoryPermissions/> The permissions for directories when they are created.
<configuration/> Extra configuration for the transport layer.
<id/>
</server>
</servers>
<mirrors> Configuration of download mirrors for repositories.
<mirror> A download mirror for a given repository.
<mirrorOf/> The server ID of the repository being mirrored, eg "central". This MUST NOT match the mirror id.
<name/> The optional name that describes the mirror.
<url/> The URL of the mirror repository.
<id/>
</mirror>
</mirrors>
<profiles> Configuration of build profiles for adjusting the build according to environmental parameters.
<profile> Modifications to the build process which is keyed on some sort of environmental parameter.
<activation> The conditional logic which will automatically trigger the inclusion of this profile.
<activeByDefault/> Flag specifying whether this profile is active as a default.
<jdk/> Specifies that this profile will be activated when a matching JDK is detected.
<os> Specifies that this profile will be activated when matching OS attributes are detected.// This is an activator which will detect an operating system's attributes in order to activate its profile.
<name/>The name of the OS to be used to activate a profile.
<family/> The general family of the OS to be used to activate a profile (e.g. 'windows')
<arch/>The architecture of the OS to be used to activate a profile.
<version/> The version of the OS to be used to activate a profile
</os>
<property> Specifies that this profile will be activated when matching OS attributes are detected.// This is the property specification used to activate a profile. If the value field is empty, then the existence of the named property will activate the profile, otherwise it does a case-sensitive match against the property value as well.
<name/>The name of the property to be used to activate a profile.
<value/>The value of the property to be used to activate a profile.
</property>
<file>Specifies that this profile will be activated based on existence of a file.
/This is the file specification used to activate a profile. The missing value will be a the location of a file that needs to exist, and if it doesn't the profile must run. On the other hand exists will test for the existence of the file and if it is there will run the profile.
<missing/> The name of the file that should be missing to activate a profile.
<exists/> The name of the file that should exist to activate a profile.
</file>
</activation>
<properties/> Extended configuration specific to this profile goes here. Contents take the form of property.value
<repositories> The lists of the remote repositories./ Repository contains the information needed for establishing connections with remote repository
<releases> How to handle downloading of releases from this repository/Download policy
<enabled/> Whether to use this repository for downloading this type of artifact.
<updatePolicy/> The frequency for downloading updates - can be "always", "daily" (default), "interval:XXX" (in minutes) or "never" (only if it doesn't exist locally).
<checksumPolicy/> What to do when verification of an artifact checksum fails - warn, fail, etc. Valid values are "fail" or "warn".
</releases>
<snapshots> How to handle downloading of snapshots from this repository/Download policy
<enabled/>
<updatePolicy/>
<checksumPolicy/>
</snapshots>
<id/> A unique identifier for a repository.
<name/> Human readable name of the repository.
<url/> The url of the repository.
<layout/> The type of layout this repository uses for locating and storing artifacts - can be "legacy" or "default".
</repository>
</repositories>
<pluginRepositories> The lists of the remote repositories for discovering plugins.
<releases>
<enabled/>
<updatePolicy/>
<checksumPolicy/>
</releases>
<enabled/>
<updatePolicy/>
<checksumPolicy/>
</snapshots>
<id/>
<name/>
<url/>
<layout/>
</pluginRepository>
</pluginRepositories>
<id/>
</profile>
</profiles>
<activeProfiles/> List of manually-activated build profiles, specified in the order in which they should be applied.
<pluginGroups/> List of groupIds to search for a plugin when that plugin groupId is not explicitly provided.
</settings>