How can I update a property in a Maven POM?

Question

I have two top-level Maven projects, backend and frontend, that advance versions at their own individual pace. Since each has multiple modules, I d

Answer 1

How to update property in existing POM:

Try to use filtering in maven-resource-plugin:

1. specify version in property file;
2. add custom filter with path to this file (in child pom.xml, where dependency should be injected);
3. update version in property file;
4. run build.

Advantages:

• it should work;
• version is specified only once;
• property file could be added under version control;
• process-resources is one of the first maven lifecycle steps.

Disadvantages:

• well, pom.xml still uses placeholder;
• additional work to automatically update property file from initial build (too complicated, I suppose there should be easier solutions).

How to provide propery on build time:

You could specify any property by build parameter.

For example, I have property in my pom.xml like:

    TODAY

To change it during build I simply use parameter:

mvn compile -Dbuild.date=10.10.2010

I'm pretty sure it will work for version as well. Also, properties from top level projects are inherited by childs.