[jomohke]

It shouldn't need to download plugins and dependencies every time you build, only the first time. Had you disabled the use of a local cache?

[jamieb]

That's my favorite. "Maven is taking too long. It must be shit. I'll write my own!"

Question: Maven is taking too long and downloading plugins and dependencies everytime. What should I do?

Answer:

1. Its shit! Write my own!

2. Well, that seem suboptimal. Would the smart people who wrote it have made it download all this stuff everytime it builds? Surely that is wrong. Maybe I could google that?

[meaty]

Yes we have disabled the local cache. Our build machines are not stateful - the environment is wiped before each build intentionally. We have had problems where maven caches are poisoned and the builds start failing randomly which cost us a lot of time half way through a major release.