embeddedtc-maven-plugin is a Maven plugin that bundles one or multiple war files and a Apache Tomcat 7 into one executable jar.
On the target machine a simple java -jar myproject.jar starts Tomcat and deploys the included war file.
The official Tomcat Maven plugin also provides an executable jar creator. The main difference from this plugin to the one from Apache is the runtime configuration.
- The Apache plugin uses xml files (context.xml, server.xml) and command line parameters to control the runtime behavior.
- This plugin uses one YAML configuration file that controls everything.
If the Apache plugin fits your needs then there is no reason to switch to this plugin.