clean:purge-check

Full name:

org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-clean-plugin:4.0.0-beta-3:purge-check

Description:

Removes orphaned build output directories left behind by sub-projects that have been deleted or renamed since the last build.

When a sub-project is removed from the reactor (e.g. after a git pull or a branch switch), its target/ directory may remain on disk even though its pom.xml is gone. Because the sub-project is no longer part of the reactor, mvn clean cannot know about it and will skip it. This goal detects such orphaned directories and removes them.

Detection heuristic: a direct child directory of the current project's basedir is considered orphaned when its only non-hidden child is the build output directory (typically target/). A freshly checked-out or live sub-project always has at least a pom.xml alongside its build directory, so a directory whose sole visible content is a target/ folder can safely be assumed to be a leftover. The entire child directory (not just its build output subdirectory) is removed, since an orphaned directory with no source files has no reason to remain on disk.

Attributes:

• Requires a Maven project to be executed.
• The goal is not marked as thread-safe and thus does not support parallel builds.
• Since version: 4.0.0-beta-3.
• Binds by default to the lifecycle phase: initialize.