<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<webResources>
<resource>
<directory>src/main/webapp</directory>
<excludes>
<exclude>css/**</exclude>
<exclude>images/**</exclude>
<exclude>js/**</exclude>
</excludes>
</resource>
</webResources>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<webResources>
<resource>
<directory>src/main/webapp</directory>
<excludes>
<exclude>css/**</exclude>
<exclude>images/**</exclude>
<exclude>js/**</exclude>
</excludes>
</resource>
</webResources>
</configuration>
</plugin>
However, this syntax does not seem to be working. After investigating the source code, I realized that in fact this plugin expects an excludes element containing a comma separated list of patterns. Following is a sample that I have used successfully in one of my projects to exclude static content. You should also notice that, patterns are relative to the src/main/webapp folder.
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<excludes>css/**,images/**,js/**</excludes>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<excludes>css/**,images/**,js/**</excludes>
</configuration>
</plugin>
