How to Configure Maven's Distribution Management for Multiple Projects in a Central Repository?

How can I manage distribution in multiple Maven projects effectively without duplicating the distributionManagement block?

<distributionManagement>
   <repository>
      <id>nexus-site</id>
      <url>http://central_nexus/server</url>
   </repository>
</distributionManagement>

Managing Maven distribution settings across multiple projects can lead to redundancy. By centralizing certain settings, you can streamline deployment while maintaining organization-wide consistency.

<project>
    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>master-pom</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <distributionManagement>
        <repository>
            <id>nexus-site</id>
            <url>http://central_nexus/server</url>
        </repository>
    </distributionManagement>
</project>

Causes

• Each Maven project typically requires a distributionManagement section to specify deployment targets.
• Maven's design enforces project-specific configurations to prevent errors and ensure clarity in deployments.
• The settings.xml file is designed primarily for local configuration, not for repository management, which is intended to be project-specific.

Solutions

• Create a master POM that includes the distributionManagement settings, which can be referenced by all other project POM files as a parent.
• Utilize Maven's inheritance feature to allow child POMs to inherit properties from the master POM.
• Consider using profiles within the master POM to handle different deployment configurations or environments.

Mistake: Repeating distributionManagement settings in each POM file.

Solution: Use a master POM to define common settings and reference it in child POMs.

Mistake: Misunderstanding Maven inheritance; incorrectly linking module POMs to the wrong parent.

Solution: Ensure that all module POMs point to the correct parent POM for inheritance.