maven-compiler-plugin 3.8.1 Compiler plugin for Maven

The Compiler Plugin is used to compile the sources of your project. Since 3.0, the default compiler is javax.tools.JavaCompiler (if you are using java 1.6) and is used to compile Java sources. If you want to force the plugin using javac, you must configure the plugin option forceJavacCompilerUse.

Also note that at present the default source setting is 1.6 and the default target setting is 1.6, independently of the JDK you run Maven with. You are highly encouraged to change these defaults by setting source and target as described in Setting the -source and -target of the Java Compiler.

Other compilers than javac can be used and work has already started on AspectJ, .NET, and C#.