If your preferred development environment is emacs, then you probably want to use JDEE (Java Development Environment for Emacs). Maven has a JDEE plugin to create JDEE project files from our Maven project POMs. Just follow these simple instructions:
- Make sure you have JDEE installed (see the simple instrcution from the JDEE web site)
- Use CVS to check out one of our Java projects (from within emacs, of course)
- Execute
maven jdee(again, from within emacs, of course) - Finally, simply use JDEE like you always have.
The Maven JDEE Plugin web site documents how to customize the resulting JDEE project files in case the default project layout disagrees with your emacs sensibilities 
. See our Maven section for where you specify these simple customization.
Customizing the behaviour of the Maven JDEE Plugin
Override the default settings of the Maven JDEE Plugin properties in ~/build.properties.