These are two different questions:
I am wondering how to know that the archetype is used for the specified pom.xml
The archetype plugin is commonly used interactively. You simply call mvn archetype:create , and the wizard guides you through the various steps. You do not need to configure anything in the pump. In fact, it would be foolish to introduce archetype information into an existing project, since archetypes are designed to create new projects.
I did not find any difference between pom.xml maven-archetype-quickstart and maven-archetype-webapp.
The main difference is that webapp contains the src / main / webapp folder, which contains your static web resources and the WEB-INF folder. The packaging is also set to war . Thus, maven-archetype-quickstart is standard for creating a simple jar project, and maven-archetype-webapp is the default for creating a simple military project.