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[SOLVED] Why is mvn release:prepare not committing changes to pom.xml - jenkins?

[SOLVED] Understanding Why mvn release:prepare Fails to Commit Changes to pom.xml in Jenkins

In this article, we look at why the Maven command mvn release:prepare does not save changes to the pom.xml file when we run it in a Jenkins job. This problem can make life hard for developers and CI/CD users. It stops the release process. We will check different parts of both Maven and Jenkins settings to find what might be wrong. By the end, we will understand how to fix these problems and make sure our Maven release works well in Jenkins.

Here is what we cover:

  • Part 1 - Check Maven Release Plugin Settings
  • Part 2 - Verify Jenkins Job Settings
  • Part 3 - Make Sure Git Repository is Set Up
  • Part 4 - Look at SCM Settings in pom.xml
  • Part 5 - Check User Rights on Repository
  • Part 6 - Look for Local Changes and Staging
  • Frequently Asked Questions

If we have this issue, it is important to follow these steps to fix it. Each part will give us useful tips to help resolve the mvn release:prepare problem and improve our Jenkins pipeline. If we need more help, we can look at related topics like how to fix Maven dependencies or authenticate Jenkins CI. Let us start!

Part 1 - Check Maven Release Plugin Configuration

We need to fix the issue where mvn release:prepare does not commit changes to pom.xml in Jenkins. First, let us check if the Maven Release Plugin is set up right in your pom.xml. The important setup includes the right versioning and distribution management settings.

  1. Add the Maven Release Plugin: We should make sure the Maven Release Plugin is in your pom.xml under the <build> section.

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.0.0-M1</version> <!-- Use the latest stable version -->
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
  2. Configure the SCM: The plugin needs SCM info to commit changes. We have to check that the SCM section is set right in your pom.xml:

    <scm>
        <connection>scm:git:https://github.com/your/repo.git</connection>
        <developerConnection>scm:git:https://github.com/your/repo.git</developerConnection>
        <url>https://github.com/your/repo</url>
    </scm>
  3. Set the versions: Make sure your pom.xml has <version> and <properties> tags set up properly:

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <maven.release.version>1.0.0</maven.release.version>
    </properties>
  4. Check Release Profile: If we are using profiles, we need to check that the release profile is active during the release process.

    <profiles>
        <profile>
            <id>release</id>
            <activation>
                <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
            </activation>
            <properties>
                <maven.release.version>1.0.0</maven.release.version>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>
  5. Run Release Prepare: We can run this command in Jenkins to start the release process:

    mvn release:prepare

If the Maven Release Plugin is not set up right, Jenkins may not commit the changes to pom.xml. For more details on Jenkins and Git integration, you can check this guide.

Part 2 - Verify Jenkins Job Configuration

To make sure that mvn release:prepare works and changes pom.xml in Jenkins, we need to check the Jenkins job setup. Here are the steps to do this:

  1. Source Code Management (SCM) Configuration:

    • Go to the Jenkins job config page.

    • In the Source Code Management section, check that the Git repository URL is right. Also, make sure Jenkins can access it.

    • Here is an example setup:

      git {
          remote {
              url 'https://github.com/your-repo.git'
          }
          branch 'main'
      }
  2. Build Triggers:

    • Check how the job is set to start. It can be a manual start or a scheduled build.
    • For example, if we use a webhook, we need to confirm it is set up right in the Git repository settings.
  3. Build Environment:

    • Look in the Build Environment section. We need to see if Use secret text(s) or file(s) is set up right if we use credentials for the Git repository.
    • Add the needed credentials under Credentials and select them in the job config.
  4. Build Steps:

    • In the Build section, make sure Invoke top-level Maven targets is chosen. Also, check that we have the right goals listed:

      release:prepare release:perform
  5. Post-build Actions:

    • If there are any actions after the build that use Git, we need to check they do not mess with the mvn release:prepare command.
  6. Verbose Logging:

    • Turn on verbose logging for the build. We can do this by adding -X to the Maven goals. This helps us find any problems during the release process:

      release:prepare -X
  7. Workspace Configuration:

    • Make sure the Jenkins workspace is clean. There should be no uncommitted changes before the build starts. We can set the job to clean the workspace before building.

By checking these setups, we can make sure the Jenkins job is ready to run mvn release:prepare and update pom.xml. For more help with Jenkins setup, we can look at how to authenticate Jenkins CI or how to trigger Jenkins builds.

Part 3 - Ensure Git Repository Setup

To make sure the mvn release:prepare command works and commits changes to pom.xml, we need to check that our Git repository is set up right. Here are the steps we can follow:

  1. Check Remote Repository Configuration:
    We need to make sure our Git remote repository is set up correctly. Run this command to check:

    git remote -v

    The output should show the right URL for both fetch and push.

  2. Verify Branch Permissions:
    We must check that the Jenkins job can push changes to the branch we are using. We can do this by looking at the repository settings on our Git hosting service like GitHub or GitLab.

  3. Set Up SSH Keys:
    If we use SSH for Git, we need to make sure the Jenkins server has the right SSH key to access the repository. We can test this with:

    ssh -T git@github.com

    Replace github.com with our Git host. If the key is set up right, we should see a success message.

  4. Check Local Repository State:
    We need to make sure there are no changes that we did not commit in our local repository before we trigger the release. We can check this with:

    git status
  5. Use the Correct Git Branch:
    It is important that our Jenkins job is set to run on the right branch meant for releases. We can specify the branch in the Jenkins job settings under Source Code Management.

  6. Review the Jenkins Pipeline:
    If we use a Jenkins Pipeline, we must check that our pipeline script includes steps to check out the right branch and prepare for releases. Here is an example snippet:

    pipeline {
        agent any
        stages {
            stage('Checkout') {
                steps {
                    git branch: 'main', url: 'git@github.com:your/repo.git'
                }
            }
            stage('Release') {
                steps {
                    sh 'mvn release:prepare'
                }
            }
        }
    }
  7. Check Jenkins Job Configuration:
    We should ensure our Jenkins job is using the Git SCM plugin and that the repository URL is correct. If we are using a multi-branch pipeline, we need to make sure it is finding branches correctly.

By following these steps, we can make sure our Git repository setup is right. This will let mvn release:prepare commit changes to pom.xml successfully. For more details on Jenkins job configurations, we can look at this guide.

Part 4 - Review SCM Configuration in pom.xml

We need to make sure that the mvn release:prepare command works well in Jenkins. This command should commit changes to pom.xml. So, we have to check the SCM (Source Control Management) settings in our pom.xml. This is very important for the Maven Release Plugin to work right with our version control system.

  1. Verify SCM Configuration: First, we open our pom.xml file. We check that the SCM section is set up correctly. It should look like this:

    <scm>
        <connection>scm:git:git://your-repo-url.git</connection>
        <developerConnection>scm:git:ssh://your-repo-url.git</developerConnection>
        <url>http://your-repo-url</url>
    </scm>
  2. Check SCM Plugin: Next, we check that we are using the right SCM plugin. If we use Git, we need to have the maven-scm-plugin in our project. It should look like this:

    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-scm-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.11.3</version>
    </plugin>
  3. Confirm Branch Configuration: If our project uses branches, we must make sure that the branch we want to release from is set correctly in Jenkins job settings.

  4. Check for Correct Credentials: We also need to check if Jenkins has the right credentials to access the repository. This is very important if it is a private repository. We can look at how to authenticate Jenkins CI for more info.

  5. Review Versioning: Lastly, we check that the <version> tag in our pom.xml is written correctly. It should follow the Maven versioning rules. For example:

    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

By checking these settings in our pom.xml, we can fix issues with mvn release:prepare not committing changes to pom.xml in Jenkins.

Part 5 - Validate User Permissions on Repository

We need to make sure that mvn release:prepare is working well with pom.xml in Jenkins. It is very important to validate user permissions on the repository. If permissions are not enough, the Maven release plugin cannot run the needed Git commands.

  1. Check User Permissions:

    • We should check that the Jenkins user has write access to the Git repository. We can do this by looking at the repository settings in our version control system like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
  2. Git Configuration:

    • We must ensure that Jenkins uses the right credentials. If we use SSH, we need to check that the SSH key is set up correctly. For HTTPS, we have to make sure the username and personal access token are right.

    Here is how we can set credentials in Jenkins:

    pipeline {
        agent any
        stages {
            stage('Checkout') {
                steps {
                    git credentialsId: 'your-credentials-id', url: 'https://github.com/user/repo.git'
                }
            }
        }
    }
  3. Jenkins Job Configuration:

    • In the Jenkins job settings, we need to select the correct Git credentials under “Source Code Management”.
    • If we are using Git Large File Storage, we should check the “Enable Git LFS support” option.
  4. Test Access:

    • We can test user permissions by cloning the repository manually with the same credentials we use in Jenkins. If we can clone, then the permissions are likely good.
  5. Review Audit Logs:

    • If we can, we should check the audit logs of our repository. This helps us find any permission errors that might happen during the release:prepare phase.

By validating user permissions on the repository, we can make sure that the changes to pom.xml get committed successfully during the Maven release process in Jenkins. For more details on configuration, we can look at how to authenticate Jenkins CI and how to configure Git post-commit.

Part 6 - Check for Local Changes and Staging

We need to make sure that mvn release:prepare commits changes to pom.xml. First, we should check our working directory for any local changes that are not staged or committed. Let us follow these steps:

  1. Check for Local Changes: We can use this command to see if there are any unstaged changes:

    git status

    If we see changes, we have to either commit or stash them before we run the Maven release command.

  2. Stage Changes: If we have local changes that we want to include in the release, we can stage them with:

    git add pom.xml
  3. Commit Changes: If we want to commit the changes before getting ready for the release, we will run:

    git commit -m "Update pom.xml before release"
  4. Verify Staging Area: We must check that our staging area is clean. We can do this by running:

    git status

    It should show “nothing to commit, working tree clean”.

  5. Run Maven Release Command: After we confirm there are no local changes, we will run:

    mvn release:prepare

    This should successfully commit changes to pom.xml.

If we still have problems, we should check if our Jenkins job configuration is set up to handle local changes correctly. For more details on Jenkins configuration, we can look at this guide.

Checking for local changes and staging is very important. It helps to make sure that mvn release:prepare commits changes to pom.xml without any issues.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is the Maven Release Plugin not committing changes to pom.xml in Jenkins?

If we have problems where mvn release:prepare does not commit changes to pom.xml in Jenkins, it may be because of wrong settings in the Maven Release Plugin. We need to check that our pom.xml has the right SCM info. Also, Jenkins must have the correct permissions to commit to the repository. For more help, we can see this article.

2. How do I verify the Jenkins job configuration for Maven releases?

To verify the Jenkins job setup for Maven releases, we should check that the job uses the right Maven version. We also need to confirm that the build step includes mvn release:prepare. Plus, the job must have the right Git credentials. The SCM settings in Jenkins should point to the correct repository. For more info, we can check this guide on triggering Jenkins builds.

3. What should I check in the pom.xml for SCM configuration?

In the pom.xml, we should make sure that the SCM section is set up correctly. This means having the right connection and developer connection URLs. This info is very important for the Maven Release Plugin to access the repository when it commits changes. If we need more help, we can look at how to set up Jenkins CI.

4. How can I ensure that I have the necessary permissions for the Git repository?

To check if we have the right permissions for the Git repository, we should see if the Jenkins user has write access. We can test the Git commands by using the same credentials that Jenkins uses. If we have problems, we might need to check user permissions in our Git hosting service.

5. What can I do if local changes are interfering with the Maven release?

If local changes are causing problems with the Maven release, we need to make sure that our working directory is clean before we run mvn release:prepare. We can use git status to see if there are uncommitted changes and we can either commit or stash them. For more command-line tips, we can check this article on capturing stdout from shell scripts.

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