[FIXED] Maven version with a property

Issue

I have big Maven (Tycho) project witch about 400 plug-ins.

We have specified version of application in each POM file.

Is there a way how to specify the version for all POM:s only on one place?

I would expect some think like:

<properties>
<buildVersion>1.1.2-SNAPSHOT</buildVersion>
</properties>

....

<version>${buildVersion}</version>

We have parent pom.xml:

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>company</groupId>
<artifactId>build.parent</artifactId>
<version>1.1.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>pom</packaging>

Then in each POM is reference to parent POM:

<parent>
  <artifactId>build.parent</artifactId>
  <groupId>company</groupId>
  <relativePath>../build.parent/pom.xml</relativePath>
  <version>1.1.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent>

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>company</groupId>
<artifactId>artifact</artifactId>
<version>1.1.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>eclipse-plugin</packaging>

Solution

See the Maven - Users forum 'version' contains an expression but should be a constant. Better way to add a new version?:

here is why this is a bad plan.

the pom that gets deployed will not have the property value resolved, so anyone depending on that pom will pick up the dependency as being the string uninterpolated with the ${ } and much hilarity will ensue in your build process.

in maven 2.1.0 and/or 2.2.0 an attempt was made to deploy poms with resolved properties... this broke more than expected, which is why those two versions are not recommended, 2.2.1 being the recommended 2.x version.

Answered By - Gerold Broser
Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (JavaFixing Admin)