Sometimes when you may need to compile a certain project to a different version than what you are currently using. The javac can accept such command using -source and -target. The Compiler Plugin can also be configured to provide these options during compilation.

For example, if you want to use the Java 8 language features (-source 1.8) and also want the compiled classes to be compatible with JVM 1.8 (-target 1.8), you can either add the two following properties, which are the default property names for the plugin parameters:

    
       [...]  
         
      
       1.8
          
      
       1.8
        
       [...]
    OR  configure the plugin directly:
    
       [...]  
     
          [...]    
            
               
        
         org.apache.maven.plugins
                
        
         maven-compiler-plugin
                
        
         3.8.0
                
                  
         1.8          
         
          1.8
                 
              
           
          [...]  
       [...]