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Using Nexus for Commons Maven releases

DRAFT

Notes on using Nexus

What is Nexus?

Nexus is a repository manager, and acts as a staging repository which "intercepts" artifacts uploaded by mvn deploy.

Thus artifacts can be safely deployed to Nexus as part of voting on a release. The vote takes place on the staged artifacts. If the vote succeeds, the artifacts can be promoted to the live repository. If it fails, the artifacts can be deleted, and the process can restart.

It also allows redundant files (such as .asc.md5 and .asc.sha1 hashes) to be deleted before deployment.

Preparations for using Nexus

  • All Commons components that use the org.apache.commons groupId are already set up to use Nexus.

However, components that use different groupIds may need to be set up. Just create a JIRA subtask under https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-1896, for example see: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-2725 (Commons) or https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-2799 (CLI)

  • If you have not done so already, create a master password.

See http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-encryption.html The master password should be stored on a USB stick if your host system is not secure. Create the ~/.m2/settings-security.xml file, for example: 

<settingsSecurity>
  <relocation>/USB/settings-security.xml</relocation>
</settingsSecurity>

This should point to the file containing the master password:

<settingsSecurity>
    <master>Master password goes here</master>
</settingsSecurity>

If you are sure that your system is secure, then the master password can be stored directly in the ~/.m2/settings-security.xml file.

  • Ensure that you have set up your Apache username and password in your settings.xml file.

There are two sections that need to be defined:

  • apache.snapshots.https
  • apache.releases.https

These correspond with Nexus repository definitions in the Apache parent pom (v7).

<!-- To publish a snapshot -->
<server>
  <id>apache.snapshots.https</id>
  <username><!-- ASF login name --></username>
  <password>{encryptedpassword}</password>
</server>
<!-- To publish a release -->
<server>
  <id>apache.releases.https</id>
  <username><!-- ASF login name --></username>
  <password>{encryptedpassword}</password>
</server>

How to use deploy using Nexus

As noted above, there are two different repositories, one for snapshots and the other for releases. If the version contains the suffix -SNAPSHOT, then the snapshot repo will be chosen by mvn deploy otherwise deploy will use the release repo.

Creating a Nexus snapshot

In the run-up to a release, it is worth-while creating a snapshot. This will allow checking of the artifacts, as well as checking that the settings are correct.

To create the snapshot, make sure that the current pom.xml is for a SNAPSHOT version. Perform the following command:

mvn deploy -Prelease [-Dgpg.skip] [-DskipTests]

This will create the binary, source and javadoc jars and hashes and upload them.

The -Prelease flag is necessary to ensure that the source and javadoc jars are created. The -Dgpg.skip flag skips the signing phase.

The resulting snapshot will appear in the Nexus repository under:

https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/snapshots/org/apache/commons/

If the upload fails with Error deploying artifact: Failed to transfer file: ... Return code is: 401 then either the username/password are incorrect, or Nexus has not yet been set up for the commons component.

Deploying to a local directory

The deploy target can easily be overridden by defining the altDeploymentRepository property. For example, the following will deploy to the local directory target/deploy:

mvn deploy -Prelease [-Dgpg.skip] [-DskipTests] -DaltDeploymentRepository=id::default::file:target/deploy

It's difficult to type and remember this parameter. One solution is to create a profile in your settings.xml:

<profile>
  <id>local-deploy</id>
  <properties>
    <altDeploymentRepository>id::default::file:target/deploy</altDeploymentRepository>
  </properties>
</profile>

You can then add -Plocal-deploy to the deploy command to change the deployment to use target/deploy.

Creating a Nexus staging release

Make sure you are using Commons Parent V16 or later.

This is necessary to ensure that Nexus is used as the deployment target.

First, create the SVN tag (with appropriate non-SNAPSHOT version in the pom), check it out into a fresh workspace and build/test the code. Once the code appears to be ready, the Maven artifacts can be deployed:

mvn deploy -Prelease [-Plocal-deploy]

The -Plocal-deploy parameter can be used as described above to redirect the deployment to target/deploy.

Otherwise, the artifacts will be deployed to the release staging repository in Nexus.

To review the files that have been uploaded, login to Nexus using your Apache login and password: https://repository.apache.org/index.html You should then see additional menu items in the LHS:

  • Enterprise
    • Staging
    • Staging Upload

Click on Enterprise/Staging and a list of your uploads should appear. Click on the appropriate one, and it will appear below. Click that and a listing will appear at the bottom.

Check that all the files are there (currently you can only see file names, not contents. This is a known bug.). If OK, right-click the "open" status and select "Close" (or "Drop" if you need to try again).

Now you can right-click to download files (and drop any that should not be there e.g. .asc.md5 - if you can be bothered). Also at this point the "Repository Path" URL becomes active to others. This is the URL you use in the VOTE thread. If the vote passes, right-click on the "closed" status and select "Promote" otherwise "Drop".

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