using build number plugin in maven profile to build modules

Question

I have parent project "parent", which has three modules like:

 <groupId>com.dummy.bla.bla</groupId>
 <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
 <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <packaging>pom</packaging>

<modules>
    <module>A</module>
    <module>B</module>
    <module>C</module>
</modules>

and three modules are depending on each other like a chain:

A<--B<--C

When I run the build under parent, I will have A-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar generated first, then B-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar, finally C-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar.

Then problem is that, I have another maven profile to generate nightly build every day.In my parent pom.xml I have:

<build>
    <profile>
    <id>nightlybuild</id>
    <finalName>${artifcateId}-${buildNumber}</finalName>
    <plugin>
    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
    <artifactId>buildnumber-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <phase>generate-resources</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>create</goal>
            </goals>
       </execution>
    </executions>
    <configuration>
        <doCheck>false</doCheck>
        <doUpdate>false</doUpdate>
        <format>{0,date,yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm}_{1}</format>
        <items>
            <item>timestamp</item>
            <item>${user.name}</item>
        </items>
    </configuration>
</plugin>
</build>

Then I have problem to build all the modules using the profile "nighlybuild", because it firstly generates A-${buildNumber}.jar, then when it builds B, it fails to look for A-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar(because under B/pom.xml I have A as a dependency with version 1.0-SNAPSHOT). Is there anyway the pom.xml under B can have something like:

if(normal build) {
    dependency A version is: 1.0-SNAPSHOT
}
if(nightly build) {
    dependency A version is: ${buildNumber}
}

Asper

Answer 1

This is not really good practice. If you're changing version, then you must really be releasing your artifacts, i.e. using maven-release-plugin (can still do that during your nightly build).

But to answer your question, nothing really stops you from moving your dependency declaration in project B into a profile though I don't think you can use properties set by plugins inside dependency version declaration.

Fouquiertinville

thanks for the explaination, you are saying it makes more sense to use maven-release-plugin to produce the night build artifact? – Asper

Yes it is. You could still use buildnumber-maven-plugin to create next versions as an input for release plugin. But then release plugin will be updating versions in your modules. – Fouquiertinville