Maven – Releasing Maven

Maven differs slightly in its release process due to several extra steps.

The goal is to commit candidate release to svn tree https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/maven/maven-3/$VERSION. Then once the vote passed, svn move to https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/maven/maven-3/$VERSION.

The tree directory is:

Note that the policy for failed releases is to move forward with a new version. The tag that produced the failed released is left in place for posterity. So if the release of, say, 3.2.4 fails then we move forward with 3.2.5.

Produce Release Candidates

For non-alpha/beta releases, release candidates are produced before the actual release.

Checkout https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/maven/maven-3 then create the necessary directory tree.

Copy the binaries and src-tar.gz with their md5/asc to the created directories.

To produce a release candidate, follow the first seven steps only from the following procedure:

Maven Project Common Release Procedure

The version used should be the eventual version with -RC1, -RC2, etc. appended.

After producing the RC, request that the developers test the release on the list. If a regression is found, a new release candidate is rolled.

After a reasonable time without regressions found, a wider audience may be polled if the release manager desires (for example, users@).

Once happy with a release candidate, the full release is performed, with the final version in place.

Produce the Release

To produce a final release, the same process as for standard projects is followed:

Maven Project Common Release Procedure

Below describes the additional steps that need to be taken at the points where the website are updated in those instructions.

Update the DOAP Information

Edit https://github.com/apache/maven/blob/master/doap_Maven.rdf to list the new release.

Update the Release Notes and Web Site

Checkout https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/maven/site/trunk.

Note that release notes can be created and checked in, but other changes should not be checked in as it can be deployed ‘live’ at any time.

For 3.x: update the versions3x, currentStableVersion and currentStableReleaseDate properties in pom.xml

Next, create the release notes:

create docs/$version
populate docs/$version/release-notes.txt from JIRA
create docs/$version/release-notes.apt.vm (see other versions for an example)

Next, update release history docs/history.apt.

Only deploy the site once the release is present on the mirrors, and the reference documentation has been deployed to /ref/.

Stage the Latest Documentation

Once the release is prepared, but before the release vote, the site needs to be staged.

From the release checkout, stage the site:

mvn -Preporting site site:stage
mvn scm-publish:publish-scm

This will publish the site in /ref/3-LATEST.

Add New Version to ASF Distribution Directory

In addition to promoting the repository, the release archives should be moved to the release svnpubsub tree:

svn mv https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/maven/maven-3/$VERSION https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/maven/maven-3

Deploy the Current Reference

The source code references and API docs need to be deployed before deploying the web site with the new version.

This consists in copying in website svn tree the /ref/3-LATEST directory to /ref/$VERSION.

svn cp https://svn.apache.org/repos/infra/websites/production/maven/content/ref/3-LATEST https://svn.apache.org/repos/infra/websites/production/maven/content/ref/$VERSION

Information on `/ref/current` mechanism

The redirection from /ref/current to actual Maven version reference is done through .htaccess published in site.

Deploying the Release Website

Once both of the above have synced to the main site and a suitable number of mirrors, proceed to update the web site and produce the announcement.

Commit your changes and then deploy the main Maven site.

Remove Old Versions from ASF Distribution Directory

Next, any superceded releases should be removed from the above locations (after confirming that they exist in /www/archive.apache.org/dist/maven).

Proceed with Announcement

You can now proceed with the steps outlined after deploying the website on Maven Project Common Release Procedure

Releasing Maven