diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 383d51ff..b96d410c 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -139,20 +139,6 @@ artifacts {
     archives javadocJar
 }
 
-import org.gradle.plugins.signing.Sign
-gradle.taskGraph.whenReady { taskGraph ->
-    if (taskGraph.allTasks.any { it instanceof Sign }) {
-        allprojects { ext."signing.keyId" = System.getenv('GPG_KEY_ID') }
-        allprojects { ext."signing.secretKeyRingFile" = System.getenv('GPG_KEY_LOCATION') }
-        allprojects { ext."signing.password" = System.getenv('GPG_PASSPHRASE') }
-    }
-    // Do not sign archives by default (a local build without gpg keyring should succeed)
-    if (taskGraph.allTasks.any { it.name == 'build' || it.name == 'assemble' }) {
-        tasks.findAll { it.name == 'signArchives' || it.name == 'signDocsJar' || it.name == 'signTestJar' }.each { task ->
-            task.enabled = false
-        }
-    }
-}
 
 publishing {
     publications {
@@ -201,6 +187,14 @@ publishing {
     }
 }
 
+ext.isReleaseVersion = getProjectProperty('TILEDB_JAVA_RELEASE').toBoolean()
+tasks.withType(Sign) {
+    onlyIf { isReleaseVersion }
+    allprojects { ext."signing.keyId" = System.getenv('GPG_KEY_ID') }
+    allprojects { ext."signing.secretKeyRingFile" = System.getenv('GPG_KEY_LOCATION') }
+    allprojects { ext."signing.password" = System.getenv('GPG_PASSPHRASE') }
+}
+
 signing {
     sign publishing.publications.mavenJava
     sign configurations.archives
diff --git a/ci/upload_to_maven.sh b/ci/upload_to_maven.sh
index 8f57ab86..258f369b 100755
--- a/ci/upload_to_maven.sh
+++ b/ci/upload_to_maven.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ echo "${GPG_SECRET_KEYS_ENC}" | base64 --decode > ${ENCRYPTED_GPG_KEY_LOCATION}
 openssl aes-256-cbc -K $encrypted_a2869fb015d7_key -iv $encrypted_a2869fb015d7_iv -in $ENCRYPTED_GPG_KEY_LOCATION -out $GPG_KEY_LOCATION -d
 ./gradlew properties -q | grep "version:" | awk '{print $2}'
 export PROJECT_VERSION=$(./gradlew properties -q | grep "version:" | awk '{print $2}')
+export ORG_GRADLE_PROJECT_TILEDB_JAVA_RELEASE=true
 # Upload only snapshots to sonatype oss so it can make its way to maven central
 ./gradlew publishMavenJavaPublicationToMavenRepository
 
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index b68f3ea6..a1648c9e 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+TILEDB_JAVA_RELEASE=false
 TILEDB_GIT_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/TileDB-Inc/TileDB
 TILEDB_GIT_TAG=dev
 TILEDB_VERBOSE=OFF