Tomcat 8 Maven Plugin for Java 8

Is the tomcat7-maven-plugin working with a tomcat 8 server and java 8? I can't find any tomcat8-maven-plugin.

Yes you can,

In your pom.xml, add the tomcat plugin. (You can use this for both Tomcat 7 and 8):

pom.xml

<!-- Tomcat plugin -->  
<plugin>  
 <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>  
 <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>  
 <version>2.2</version>  
 <configuration>  
  <url>http:// localhost:8080/manager/text</url>  
  <server>TomcatServer</server>    *(From maven > settings.xml)*
  <username>*yourtomcatusername*</username>  
  <password>*yourtomcatpassword*</password>   
 </configuration>   
</plugin>   

tomcat-users.xml

<tomcat-users>
    <role rolename="manager-gui"/>  
        <role rolename="manager-script"/>   
        <user username="admin" password="password" roles="manager-gui,manager-script" />  
</tomcat-users>

settings.xml (maven > conf)

<servers>  
    <server>
       <id>TomcatServer</id>
       <username>admin</username>
       <password>password</password>
    </server>
</servers>  

*** deploy/re-deploy**

mvn tomcat7:deploy OR mvn tomcat7:redeploy

Tried this on (Both Ubuntu and Windows 8/10):

• Jdk 7 & Tomcat 7
• Jdk 7 & Tomcat 8
• Jdk 8 & Tomcat 7
• Jdk 8 & Tomcat 8
• Jdk 8 & Tomcat 9

Tested on Both Jdk 7/8 & Tomcat 7/8. (Works with Tomcat 8.5 and 9)

Note:
Tomcat manager should be running or properly setup, before you can use it with maven.

Good Luck!

Plugin run Tomcat 7.0.47:

mvn org.apache.tomcat.maven:tomcat7-maven-plugin:2.2:run

 ...
 INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/7.0.47

This is sample to run plugin with Tomcat 8 and Java 8: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33587299/cargo-embedded-tomcat-custom-context-xml#38234234

Almost 2 years later....
This github project readme has a some clarity of configuration of the maven plugin and it seems, according to this apache github project, the plugin itself will materialise soon enough.

Since November 2017, one can use tomcat8-maven-plugin:

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.tomcat.maven/tomcat8-maven-plugin -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
    <artifactId>tomcat8-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.2</version>
</dependency>

Note that this plugin resides in ICM repo (not in Maven Central), hence you should add the repo to your pluginsRepositories in your pom.xml:

<pluginRepositories>
    <pluginRepository>
        <id>icm</id>
        <name>Spring Framework Milestone Repository</name>
        <url>http://maven.icm.edu.pl/artifactory/repo</url>
    </pluginRepository>
</pluginRepositories>

An other solution (if possible) would be to use TomEE instead of Tomcat, which has a working maven plugin:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.tomee.maven</groupId>
    <artifactId>tomee-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>7.1.1</version>
</plugin>

Version 7.1.1 wraps a Tomcat 8.5.41

groupId and Mojo name change Since version 2.0-beta-1 tomcat mojos has been renamed to tomcat6 and tomcat7 with the same goals.

You must configure your pom to use this new groupId:

<pluginManagement>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
      <artifactId>tomcat6-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </plugin>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
      <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</pluginManagement>

Or add the groupId in your settings.xml

.... org.apache.tomcat.maven ....