Question

My usual practice is to have a single maven project (can be multi-module) per svn trunk like this:

trunk/ (style 1)
  /pom.xml
  /submod-1
  /submod-2

Basically, the entire trunk is treated as a single release package. I find this easier to manage. There’s an aggregation/parent pom to manage all modules within this trunk.

However, i noticed some of my peers organize like this:

trunk/ (style 2)
  /project-1
    /pom.xml
  /project-2
    /pom.xml

Basically, within the single svn trunk…project-1 and project-2 needs to be managed separately. i.e. I cannot checkout the trunk and work with its contents as a single multi-module maven project -something i appreciate.

Q1: When would style 2 be a good idea, if at all?

Q2: Can someone tell/point me to best practices on how to manage maven projects with subversion?

Answer 1

I have seen instances of both.

In my opinion, it depends on how independent the projects/modules are. If they have their own release plans, then it makes sense for them to have their own trunk, branches and tags. However, if the projects/modules are always released together, it may make sense for them to be part of a single trunk.

From a maven perspective, if the modules of a multi-module project inherit their <version> from the parent, then it should follow style 1 above.