Configuring the Plugin

First you must configure the plugin and tell it where your template is. In this example we want to use the template ${basedir}/src/main/resources/our-announcements/my-announcement.vm.

Note: The <templateDirectory> must be a subdirectory of ${basedir}/src/main/resources/.

<project>
  ...
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-changes-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0-M1</version>
        <configuration>
          <template>my-announcement.vm</template>
          <templateDirectory>our-announcements</templateDirectory>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
  ...
</project>

Creating Your Template

Next you want to create your own template. A wise thing is to start with the default one that is included in the plugin. You can download it from here. It will provide you with examples on how to iterate over the actions of a release among other things.

Available Variables

Here's a list of the variables that you have at your disposal, when creating your own template:

Each Release also has a set of variables:

Finally each Action has the following variables:

Velocity Context contains all default tools provided by the ToolManager. See the Tools Usage Summary for further details.

For information on how to access variables in your template and more, see the Velocity user guide.