The avro-maven-plugin configuration doesn’t work in the execution definition

I wanted to write a quick blog because I’ve wasted a full hour figuring out why the imports on the avro-maven-plugin were not working. If you look at the documentation link above, you will see the following configuration example for the avro-maven-plugin.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
  <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.11.0</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>generate-sources</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>schema</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/avro/</sourceDirectory>
        <outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/java/</outputDirectory>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

However, the configuration section in the execution definition was not actually respected. Here’s an example. Notice I changes the source and output directory names to blah and flarp.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
  <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.11.0</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>generate-sources</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>schema</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/blah/</sourceDirectory>
        <outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/flarp/</outputDirectory>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

When I run the avro:schema target with debugging (mvn clean avro:schema -X), the output of the configuration in the logs do not reflect the changes.

[DEBUG] Configuring mojo 'org.apache.avro:avro-maven-plugin:1.11.0:schema' with basic configurator -->
[DEBUG]   (f) createSetters = true
[DEBUG]   (f) customConversions = []
[DEBUG]   (f) customLogicalTypeFactories = []
[DEBUG]   (f) enableDecimalLogicalType = false
[DEBUG]   (f) fieldVisibility = PRIVATE
[DEBUG]   (f) outputDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/target/generated-sources/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) project = MavenProject: com.kubetrade.shared:shared-schema:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT @ /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/pom.xml
[DEBUG]   (f) sourceDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/src/main/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) testOutputDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/target/generated-test-sources/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) testSourceDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/src/test/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) velocityToolsClassesNames = []
[DEBUG] -- end configuration --

However, when I move the configuration up to the plugin level, it works.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
  <artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.11.0</version>
  <configuration>
    <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/blah/</sourceDirectory>
    <outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/flarp/</outputDirectory>
  </configuration>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>generate-sources</phase>
        <goals>
          <goal>schema</goal>
        </goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

[DEBUG] Configuring mojo 'org.apache.avro:avro-maven-plugin:1.11.0:schema' with basic configurator -->
[DEBUG]   (f) createSetters = true
[DEBUG]   (f) customConversions = []
[DEBUG]   (f) customLogicalTypeFactories = []
[DEBUG]   (f) enableDecimalLogicalType = false
[DEBUG]   (f) fieldVisibility = PRIVATE
[DEBUG]   (f) outputDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/src/main/flarp
[DEBUG]   (f) project = MavenProject: com.kubetrade.shared:shared-schema:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT @ /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/pom.xml
[DEBUG]   (f) sourceDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/src/main/blah
[DEBUG]   (f) testOutputDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/target/generated-test-sources/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) testSourceDirectory = /Users/stephennimmo/Projects/github/kubetrade/shared-schema/src/test/avro
[DEBUG]   (f) velocityToolsClassesNames = []
[DEBUG] -- end configuration --

I hope this can save someone the hour I just wasted.