with its <<<DefaultArtifact>>> implementation ({{{./xref/org/apache/maven/artifact/DefaultArtifact.html}source}}).

 The jar file is executable and provides a little tool to display how Maven parses and compares versions:

+----+
$ java -jar maven-artifact-*.jar 3.2.4-alpha-1 3.2.4-SNAPSHOT 3.2.4.0
Display parameters as parsed by Maven (in canonical form) and comparison result:
1. 3.2.4-alpha-1 == 3.2.4.alpha.1

  <scm>
    <url>https://github.com/hamcrest/JavaHamcrest</url>
    <connection>scm:git:******@****.***:hamcrest/JavaHamcrest.git</connection>
  </scm>

  <developers>
    <developer>
      <id>joe.walnes</id>
      <name>Joe Walnes</name>
      <roles>
        <role>Developer</role>
      </roles>
    </developer>
    <developer>
      <id>nat.pryce</id>
      <name>Nat Pryce</name>
      <roles>

* Execution model
* Metadata model
* Metadata tooling
 ** Metadata extractor
 ** Metadata reader
 ** Metadata writer
 ** Metadata adapter (if required for the target system)
* Maven packaging and lifecycle
* Maven test harness for plugin execution model
* Eclipse IDE tooling for plugin execution model and metadata model

- we also seem to have information like the plugin lifecycle model that's buried inside the maven execution model