utilities for the Plexus framework

 The Plexus project provides a full software stack for creating and executing
 software projects. Based on the Plexus container, the applications can
 utilise component-oriented programming to build modular, reusable components
 that can easily be assembled and reused.
 .
 While Plexus is similar to other inversion-of-control (IoC) or dependency
 injection frameworks such as the Spring Framework, it is a full-fledged
 container that supports many more features such as:
 .
  * Component lifecycles
  * Component instantiation strategies
  * Nested containers
  * Component configuration
  * Auto-wiring
  * Component dependencies, and
  * Various dependency injection techniques including constructor injection,
   setter injection, and private field injection.