What exactly is a Maven Snapshot and why do we need it?

Question

I am a bit confused about the meaning of a Maven Snapshot and why we build one?

Answer 1

A "release" is the final build for a version which does not change.

A "snapshot" is a build which can be replaced by another build which has the same name. It implies that the build could change at any time and is still under active development.

You have different artifacts for different builds based on the same code. E.g. you might have one with debugging and one without. One for Java 5.0 and one for Java 6. Generally its simpler to have one build which does everything you need. ;)