Web Application
Create
Executing the following will create a simple web app:
mvn archetype:create -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-webapp -DpackageName=com.sample -DgroupId=com.sample -DartifactId=sample-webapp
Build
To build the WAR file change into the my-webapp folder:
mvn clean:clean package
Exclude Dependency from WAR
To exclude spring-1.2.6.jar from the war file:
<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <warSourceExcludes>**/spring-1.2.6.jar</warSourceExcludes>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
Note: This did work on a test project but did not work on a more complex project.