[MRELEASE-203] support more than one release pattern via new goal release:branch - ASF JIRA

XML

Word

Printable

JSON

CURRENT BEHAVIOUR:
maven currently seems to support only this one release pattern well: feature branches
develop towards release in trunk; prepare it by tagging, then release from that tag; continue for next iteration in trunk (pom version tags are nicely updated), while some or most features are done in branches

DESIRABLE IMPROVEMENT:
alternative patterns or customizations such as release branches should be available:
develop features in trunk and rarely use feature branches; begin release phase by branching, then work towards release in branch, while continuing for next iteration in trunk (currently pom version tag hell, when doing this manually); prepare by tagging from branch, then release from tag
this could be achieved by offering a new goal release:branch, that creates a branch from trunk, updates the trunk poms for next iteration and stores some properties in the branch, so that upon release:prepare from the branch, the user can opt out preparations for next iteration on the branch

loosely related to following issues:
- branch instead of tag (~~MRELEASE-179~~)
- branch during prepare (~~MRELEASE-170~~)

depends upon

MRELEASE-226 Provide an option to create a branch for maintenance releases