What does mvn install in maven exactly do

I just started using Maven and I was told to do mvn install in a specific directory.

What does mvn install do, exactly?

I think it looks for pom.xml in the current folder and starts following the instructions specified in that file. Is that correct?

As you might be aware of, Maven is a build automation tool provided by Apache which does more than dependency management. We can make it as a peer of Ant and Makefile which downloads all of the dependencies required.

On a mvn install, it frames a dependency tree based on the project configuration pom.xml on all the sub projects under the super pom.xml (the root POM) and downloads/compiles all the needed components in a directory called .m2 under the user's folder. These dependencies will have to be resolved for the project to be built without any errors, and mvn install is one utility that could download most of the dependencies.

Further, there are other utils within Maven like dependency:resolve which can be used separately in any specific cases. The build life cycle of the mvn is as below: LifeCycle Bindings

1. process-resources
2. compile
3. process-test-resources
4. test-compile
5. test
6. package
7. install
8. deploy

The test phase of this mvn can be ignored by using a flag -DskipTests=true.

Have you looked at any of the Maven docs, for example, the maven install plugin docs?

Nutshell version: it will build the project and install it in your local repository.

The install:install goal is provided by «Apache Maven Install Plugin»:

Apache Maven Install Plugin

The Install Plugin is used during the install phase to add artifact(s) to the local repository. The Install Plugin uses the information in the POM (groupId, artifactId, version) to determine the proper location for the artifact within the local repository.

The local repository is the local cache where all artifacts needed for the build are stored. By default, it is located within the user's home directory (~/.m2/repository) but the location can be configured in ~/.m2/settings.xml using the <localRepository> element.

— Apache Maven Install Plugin - Introduction.

Having said that, the exact goal purpose:

install:install is used to automatically install the project's main artifact (the JAR, WAR or EAR), its POM and any attached artifacts (sources, javadoc, etc) produced by a particular project.

— Apache Maven Install Plugin - Introduction.

For additional details on the goal, please refer to the Apache Maven Install Plugin - install:install page.

For additional details on the build lifecycle in general and on which place the goal has in the build lifecycle, please refer to the Maven – Introduction to the Build Lifecycle page.