How does Maven resolve plugin versions?

Question

I\'m reading the docs and still confused as to how Maven is deciding which versions of plugins to download.

For example, consider this simple scenario:

1. an

Answer 1

Every version of Maven binaries has certain versions of plugin versions hardcoded. That's to make a somewhat reproducible build in the cases when user doesn't provide his own version information. Which you are encouraged to do and once you populate section with the plugin versions of your choice, the build will start using it.