* A project is usually read from a file named {@code pom.xml},
     * which contains the {@linkplain #getModel() model} in an XML form.
     * When a custom {@code org.apache.maven.api.spi.ModelParser} is used,
     * the path may point to a non XML file.
     * <p>
     * The POM path is also used to define the {@linkplain #getBasedir() base directory}
     * of the project.
     *

  /** Constructor used only by {@code LegacyConverter} to suspend automatic null-handling. */
  Converter(boolean handleNullAutomatically) {
    this.handleNullAutomatically = handleNullAutomatically;
  }

  // SPI methods (what subclasses must implement)

  /**
   * Returns a representation of {@code a} as an instance of type {@code B}. If {@code a} cannot be