Releasing Maven projects hosted in local Git repository

Setup local Git repository

$ touch .gitignore
$ git init
$ git add .
$ git commit -m 'Initial checkin'

The result Git tree

* 84a7df07 (HEAD, master) Initial checkin

Setup Maven project

Create Maven project (scaffolding and POM file). The default project version is

<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

Configure scm section to use local Git repository.

<scm>
    <connection>scm:git:file://.</connection>
    <developerConnection>scm:git:file://.</developerConnection>
    <url>scm:git:file://.</url>
    <tag>HEAD</tag>
</scm>

Configure distributionManagement section to point to your Maven repository.

<distributionManagement>
    <repository>
        <id>releases</id>
        <url>http://maven.ndpar.com:9191/nexus/content/repositories/releases</url>
    </repository>
    <snapshotRepository>
        <id>snapshots</id>
        <url>http://maven.ndpar.com:9191/nexus/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
    </snapshotRepository>
</distributionManagement>

Configure Maven release plugin to use local checkout

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <autoVersionSubmodules>true</autoVersionSubmodules>
                <localCheckout>true</localCheckout>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Commit the changes

$ git add .
$ git commit -m 'Set up Maven project'

The result Git tree

* 7e850012 (HEAD, master) Set up Maven project
* 84a7df07 Initial checkin

Master release

$ mvn --batch-mode release:prepare release:perform

The new project version on master branch

<version>1.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

The result Git tree

* bc7b6556 (HEAD, master) [maven-release-plugin] prepare for next development iteration
* 1598e062 (gitmaven-1.0) [maven-release-plugin] prepare release gitmaven-1.0
* 7e850012 Set up Maven project
* 84a7df07 Initial checkin

New maintenance branch

Spawn the maintenance branch from the release commit

$ git checkout -b maint-1.0 gitmaven-1.0

Switch to maintenance versioning

$ mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=1.0.0-SNAPSHOT

Commit

$ git add .
$ git commit -m 'New maintenance branch'

The result Git tree

* 2e7cc323 (HEAD, maint-1.0) New maintenance branch
* 1598e062 (gitmaven-1.0) [maven-release-plugin] prepare release gitmaven-1.0
* 7e850012 Set up Maven project
* 84a7df07 Initial checkin

Maintenance release

On the maintenance branch

$ mvn --batch-mode release:prepare release:perform

New project version

<version>1.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

Merge the changes into master branch favoring the master version

$ git checkout master
$ git merge -s ours maint-1.0

Double check the project version, it must be the same as before

<version>1.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

The result Git tree

*   31273b40 (HEAD, master) Merge branch 'maint-1.0'
|\
| * c1f1772a (maint-1.0) [maven-release-plugin] prepare for next development iteration
| * 3ff5dd60 (gitmaven-1.0.0) [maven-release-plugin] prepare release gitmaven-1.0.0
| * 2e7cc323 New maintenance branch
* | bc7b6556 [maven-release-plugin] prepare for next development iteration
|/
* 1598e062 (gitmaven-1.0) [maven-release-plugin] prepare release gitmaven-1.0
* 7e850012 Set up Maven project
* 84a7df07 Initial checkin

Configure remote Git repository (optional)

Master branch

$ git checkout master
$ git remote add origin git@github.com:ndpar/gitmaven.git
$ git push origin master

Maintenance branch

$ git checkout maint-1.0
$ git-publish-branch

Push to remote Git repository (optional)

Master branch

$ git checkout master
$ git push
$ git push --tags

Maintenance branch

$ git checkout maint-1.0
$ git push
$ git push --tags

Resources

git-publish-branch script