Assimilate is a Maven2 plugin that allows developers to import dependencies from other pre-built Maven projects without a formal parent-child hierarchy existing between the projects. There is no limit to the number of project dependencies. Maven 2.0.9's "import" scope acts not on managed dependencies, but on those declared in the dependency management section of the imported pom file. Assimilate, in contrast, is designed to act on managed dependencies of any prebuilt Maven project (stored in the local repository), as though they were declared in the local project's managed dependency section.
