Build large maven projects quicker on OS X, this gist will ensure a ramdisk is mounted in /Volumes/ramdisk and triggers a profile that redirects output to a ram disk. It also only builds modules which have changed and their dependent modules. This is done by supplying the target directory of the ultimate artifact you are interested in.

README.md

Make sure you have a profile called quick that redefines the location of maven's output to the ramdisk. To do this ensure all of the below are in your parent POM.

<properties><my.build.directory>target</my.build.directory></properties>

<build><directory>${my.build.directory}</directory></build

<profile>
  <id>quick</id>
  <properties>
    <my.build.directory>/Volumes/ramdisk/maven/${project.groupId}-${project.artifactId}/target</my.build.directory>
  </properties>
</profile>

The ramdisk is set to be a gig in size btw.

Always run from the top level POM's directory.

qmvn (<final-artifact-target-directory> | -d ) <maven-lifecycle>+

E.g. Supplying your final artifacts target directory on the ramdisk:

qmvn /Volumes/ramdisk/maven/cazcade-boardcast/target install

To just build everything make sure the first argument is not a valid directory e.g.

qmvn pom.xml install

To use the default directory (currently manually hacked into the script)

qmvn -d install

qmvn.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Make sure you have a profile called quick that redefines the location of maven's output to the ramdisk.
# To do this ensure all of the below are in your parent POM.
#
#  <properties><my.build.directory>target</my.build.directory></properties>
#
#  <build><directory>${my.build.directory}</directory></build
#
#  <profile>
#    <id>quick</id>
#    <properties>
#        <my.build.directory>/Volumes/ramdisk/maven/${project.groupId}-${project.artifactId}/target</my.build.directory>
#    </properties>
#  </profile>
#
# The ramdisk is set to be a gig in size btw.
#
# Usage: qmvn <final-artifact-target-directory> <maven-lifecycle>+
#

DEFAULT_TARGET=/Volumes/ramdisk/maven/cazcade-boardcast/target 

if [ $1 == "-d" ]
then
        TARGET=$DEFAULT_TARGET
else
        TARGET=$1
fi

shift 1

if [ -d /Volumes/ramdisk ]
then
  echo "Ramdisk already built."
else
        diskutil erasevolume HFS+ "ramdisk" `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://2097152`
fi

function newer() {
	find . -name pom.xml -exec dirname {} \; | while read dir
	do 
		if [ -d $TARGET ]
		then
			if [ -n "`find $dir/src $dir/pom.xml -newer $TARGET`" ]
			then
				echo $dir/pom.xml
			fi
		else
			echo  $dir
		fi
	done 
}

projects=$(newer | sort -u | tr '\n' ',')

if [ -n "$projects" ]
then
	mvn  -Dmaven.test.skip  --projects $projects --also-make-dependents $@ -P quick
else
	echo "Up to date."
fi