This is 'maven-archetype' packaging configuration for archetype projects. It provides maven-archetype-plugin bindings to default lifecycle:
Declaring maven-archetype packaging to your pom is not the only step required:
Typical pom.xml contains:
<project> ... <packaging>maven-archetype</packaging> ... <build> <extensions> <extension> <groupId>org.apache.maven.archetype</groupId> <artifactId>archetype-packaging</artifactId> <version>2.3</version> </extension> </extensions> <pluginManagement> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-archetype-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.3</version> </plugin> </plugins> </pluginManagement> </build> </project>