If you have a file called index.xml in your root directory (/ or c:/), the plugin will fail: xdoc:generate-from-pom: [echo] Generating xdocs from POM ... BUILD FAILED File...... file:/C:/Documents and Settings/Benoit Xhenseval/.maven/cache/maven-xdoc-plugin-1.10/plugin.jelly Element... velocity:merge Line...... 728 Column.... 13 This tag must define 'basedir' and 'template' Total time : 5 seconds Finished at : 13 November 2006 00:12:44 GMT I believe that it should be more robust if the maven.xdoc.custom.templateDir is empty (default), it should not assume that it is the root directory... Thanks Benoit