Question

I am developing code actively, with my developing team. When we release to our customers, I would like to provide jars without the -SNAPSHOT so they only need to update when a new dot version is created.

This there a maven plugin that provides this functionality. I know there is because everyone else must do it some how. I doubt it is manually.

I would appreciate answers to be explicit as possible.

Please and thank you.

Answer 1

Some plugins can help here, as already mentioned in this answer and in the comments of this one: the Maven Release Plugin if you want to fully automate the release and/or the Maven Versions Plugin.

With the Maven Release Plugin

Releasing a project with the Maven Release Plugin is done in two steps: prepare and perform and here is what the documentation writes about the release:prepare goal:

Preparing a release goes through the
following release phases:

• Check that there are no uncommitted changes in the sources
• Check that there are no SNAPSHOT dependencies
• Change the version in the POMs from x-SNAPSHOT to a new version (you
  will be prompted for the versions to
  use)
• Transform the SCM information in the POM to include the final
  destination of the tag
• Run the project tests against the modified POMs to confirm everything is
  in working order
• Commit the modified POMs
• Tag the code in the SCM with a version name (this will be prompted
  for)
• Bump the version in the POMs to a new value y-SNAPSHOT (these values
  will also be prompted for)
• Commit the modified POMs

In other words, the Maven Release Plugin is exactly doing what you’re asking for.

With the Maven Versions Plugin

If you don’t use the Maven Release Plugin, the Maven Versions Plugin can be helpful. In particular, the following goals:

• versions:update-parent updates the parent section of a
  project so that it references the
  newest available version. For example,
  if you use a corporate root POM, this
  goal can be helpful if you need to
  ensure you are using the latest
  version of the corporate root POM.
• versions:update-child-modules
  updates the parent section of the child modules of a project so the
  version matches the version of the
  current project. For example, if you
  have an aggregator pom that is also
  the parent for the projects that it
  aggregates and the children and parent
  versions get out of sync, this mojo
  can help fix the versions of the child
  modules. (Note you may need to invoke
  Maven with the -N option in order to
  run this goal if your project is
  broken so badly that it cannot build
  because of the version mis-match).
• versions:set can be used to set the project version from the
  command line.
• versions:commit removes the pom.xml.versionsBackup files. Forms
  one half of the built-in “Poor Man’s
  SCM”.
• versions:revert restores the pom.xml files from the
  pom.xml.versionsBackup files. Forms
  one half of the built-in “Poor Man’s
  SCM”.

I mentioned several goals but the “most” interesting is probably versions:update-child-modules here. It would allow to change the version in the top parent pom and then to automate the update of the child. See Fixing a multi-module build for an example.

Can’t help more, you need to experiment yourself now. Good luck!

References

• The Maven Release Plugin
• The Maven Versions Plugin