I am working on a collection MATLAB, Java, and C/C++ components that all inter-operate, but have distinctly different compilation/installation steps. We currently don't compile anything for MATLAB, use maven2 for our Java build and unit tests, and use autotools for our C/C++ build and unit tests.
I would like to move everything to a single build and unit test system, using maven2, but have not been able to find a plugin that will allow the C/C++ codestream to remain autotools-based and simply wrap it in a maven build. Having to rip out autotools support and recreate all the dependencies in maven is most likely a deal-breaker, so I'm looking for a way for maven and autotools to play nicely together, rather than having to choose between the two.
Is this possible or even desirable? Are there resources out there that I have overlooked?
I don't really know autotools, but can't you use the maven exec plugin, that lets you execute system commands (or Java programs)? For example:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>exec-one</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<configuration>
<executable>autogen</executable>
<arguments>
<argument>-v</argument>
</arguments>
</configuration>
<goals>
<goal>exec</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>exec-two</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<configuration>
<executable>automake</executable>
<arguments>
<argument>-v</argument>
<argument>[other arguments]</argument>
</arguments>
</configuration>
<goals>
<goal>exec</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
I didn't test the pom fragment above, but it gives you some hints about how to proceed.
You did overlook the maven cbuild parent suite. take a look at the "make-maven-plugin" section for more details.