Often when starting to use a new piece of software, you want to give it the "Ten Minute Test" - download, install and run it, and then do something useful with it within 10 minutes to get a feel for how it works. This guide will help you do that. Sure, you won't have converted any massive, highly-customised build you may already be using, but you'll know where to start.
Because Maven has different types of users - those that are running the build and those that are defining the build, we have two different tracks. If you are defining a new build for a piece of software, you'll find it helpful to have learned to use Maven first - so we recommend both tracks.
Help! I downloaded this cool piece of software and there is no build.xml, just project.xml! What do I do?