title: What is the maven base directory?
body: <p>I'm struggling to find documentation on the maven site that explicitly tells me what the "base directory" is. The term is bandied around on several pages as if I'm meant to already know what it means.</p>
  
  <p>I imagine it's the directory that contains the pom.xml (which pom, if one pom references another?), but it might be more subtle than that?</p>