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.