patch to allow extra webapp and webapp/WEB-INF/classes files to be specified that override existing files

Currnelty, there is no way to execute a plugin inbetween the 'build exploded webapp' part of this plugin, and the 'zip up resources' bit.

I have the need to override classpath resources, and sometimes other webapp resources, based on a deployment target, such as test / staging or production.

With this patch, I will be able to have files layed out like this :

/profile/test/config.properties
/src/main/resources/config.properties

then configure the war plugin :

<configuration>
<extraWebappClasses>profile/test</extraWebappClasses>
</configuration>

thus producing a war that contains profile/test/config.properties instead of the default /src/main/resources/config.properties

I have investigated alternative ways to achive this goal, and none of them seemed easy.

Some ideas :

• split the package phase into 2 phases - preparePackage and package
• provide a generic technique to allow plugins to expose extension points where other plugins can hook into
• create a plugin that runs after the war plugin, that creates a new war - slow since the ziping will need to be done twice

i'm keen to hear anyone's thoughts on the mailing list or in irc - my nick is Fracture