To use the plugin, you've got two options: First of all, it can create a simple text file, called target/rat.txt, with the plugin's output. This is done by invoking the apache-rat:check goal.
You may also add a report to the generated site. This is your second option.
To create a text file with the report, you need to run the apache-rat:check goal. Add a section like the following to your POM:
<build>
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
<artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
<version>0.17-SNAPSHOT</version>
</plugin>
...
</plugins>
</build>Once you have done that, the plugin can be run from the command line by simply typing
mvn apache-rat:check
An example for running the plugin automatically can be found here.
A section like the following must be added to your POM:
<reporting>
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
<artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
<version>0.17-SNAPSHOT</version>
</plugin>
...
</plugins>
</reporting>The report will be created automatically when you generate the site:
mvn site
The Rat Maven plugin has a number of options as is shown in the table below.
Maven Description Argument Type
<editCopyright> The copyright message to use in the license headers. Usually in the String
form of "Copyright 2008 Foo". Only valid with <editLicense>
<editOverwrite> Forces any changes in files to be written directly to the source -- none --
files (i.e. new files are not created). Only valid with
<editLicense>
<editLicense> Add the default license header to any file with an unknown license -- none --
that is not in the exclusion list. By default new files will be
created with the license header, to force the modification of
existing files use the <editOverwrite> option.
<config> File names for system configuration. File
<configurationNoDefaults> Ignore default configuration. -- none --
<licensesApproved> The approved License IDs. These licenses will be added to the list LicenseID
of approved licenses.
<licensesApprovedFile> Name of file containing the approved License IDs. File
<licenseFamiliesApproved> The approved License Family IDs. These licenses families will be FamilyID
added to the list of approved licenses families.
<licenseFamiliesApprovedFile> Name of file containing the approved family IDs. File
<licensesDenied> The denied License IDs. These licenses will be removed from the LicenseID
list of approved licenses. Once licenses are removed they can not
be added back.
<licensesDeniedFile> Name of file containing the denied license IDs. File
<licenseFamiliesDenied> The denied License family IDs. These license families will be FamilyID
removed from the list of approved licenses.
<licenseFamiliesDeniedFile> Name of file containing the denied license IDs. File
<inputExclude> Excludes files matching <Expression>. Expression
<inputExcludeFile> Reads <Expression> entries from a file. Entries will be excluded File
from processing.
<inputExcludeStd> Excludes files defined in standard collections based on commonly StandardCollection
occurring groups.
<inputInclude> Includes files matching <Expression>. Will override excluded files. Expression
<inputIncludeFile> Reads <Expression> entries from a file. Entries will override File
excluded files.
<inputIncludeStd> Includes files defined in standard collections based on commonly StandardCollection
occurring groups. Will override excluded files.
<inputExcludeParsedScm> Parse SCM based exclusion files to exclude specified files and StandardCollection
directories.
<outputStyle> XSLT stylesheet to use when creating the report. Either an external StyleSheet
xsl file may be specified or one of the internal named sheets.
<outputLicenses> List the defined licenses. LicenseFilter
<outputFamilies> List the defined license families. LicenseFilter
-- not supported -- sets the log level. LogLevel
<dryRun> If set do not update the files but generate the reports. -- none --
<outputFile> Define the output file where to write a report to. File
<outputArchive> Specifies the level of detail in ARCHIVE file reporting. ProcessingType
<outputStandard> Specifies the level of detail in STANDARD file reporting. ProcessingType
<helpLicenses> Print information about registered licenses. -- none --
-- not supported -- Print help for the RAT command line interface and exit. -- none --
The Rat maven plugin uses the standard argument types as shown below.
<DirOrArchive>
A directory or archive file to scan.
<Expression>
A file matching pattern usually of the form used in Ant build files and '.gitignore' files (see
https://ant.apache.org/manual/dirtasks.html#patterns for examples). Regular expression patterns may be
specified by surrounding the pattern with '%regex[' and ']'. For example '%regex[[A-Z].*]' would match files
and directories that start with uppercase latin letters.
<FamilyID>
The ID for a license family.
<File>
A file name.
<LicenseFilter>
A defined filter for the licenses to include. Valid values: ALL, APPROVED, NONE.
<LicenseID>
The ID for a license.
<LogLevel>
The log level to use. Valid values DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, OFF.
<ProcessingType>
Specifies how to process file types. Valid values are:
NOTIFICATION: List file as present
PRESENCE: List any licenses found
ABSENCE: List licenses found and any unknown licences
<StandardCollection>
Defines standard expression patterns (see above). Valid values are:
ALL: All of the Standard Excludes combined.
ARCH: The files and directories created by an ARCH source code control based tool.
BAZAAR: The files and directories created by a Bazaar source code control based tool.
BITKEEPER: The files and directories created by a Bitkeeper source code control based tool.
CVS: The files and directories created by a CVS source code control based tool.
DARCS: The files and directories created by a DARCS source code control based tool.
ECLIPSE: The files and directories created by an Eclipse IDE based tool.
GIT: The files and directories created by GIT source code control to support GIT, also processes files listed
in '.gitignore'.
HIDDEN_DIR: The hidden directories. Directories with names that start with '.'
HIDDEN_FILE: The hidden files. Directories with names that start with '.'
IDEA: The files and directories created by an IDEA IDE based tool.
MAC: The .DS_Store files MAC computer.
MAVEN: The files and directories created by Maven build system based project.
MERCURIAL: The files and directories created by a Mercurial source code control based tool.
MISC: The set of miscellaneous files generally left by editors and the like.
MKS: The files and directories created by an MKS source code control based tool.
RCS: The files and directories created by a RCS source code control based tool.
SCCS: The files and directories created by a SCCS source code control based tool.
SERENA_DIMENSIONS_10: The files and directories created by a Serena Dimensions V10 change control system based
tool.
STANDARD_PATTERNS: A standard collection of generally accepted patterns to ignore.
STANDARD_SCMS: A standard collection of SCMs
SUBVERSION: The files and directories created by a Subversion source code control based tool.
SURROUND_SCM: The files and directories created by a Surround SCM source code control based tool.
VSS: The files and directories created by a Visual Source Safe source code control based tool.
<StyleSheet>
Either an external xsl file or one of the internal named sheets. Internal sheets are:
plain-rat: The default style.
missing-headers: Produces a report of files that are missing headers.
unapproved-licenses: Produces a report of the files with unapproved licenses.
xml: Produces output in pretty-printed XML.