update Git branches for Maven-4 specific plugins and components

we have a few plugins and components with a Maven 4 specific branch (either for Java Module support or anticipation of future Maven 4 API migration), while our current strategy is to maintain default for Maven 3, and switch to Maven 4 as default in the future, once users migration to Maven 4.0 has good progress

This is visible in the source tree:

...
|-- plugins
|   |-- core
          (default Maven 3)
|   |-- core-4
|   |   |-- maven-clean-plugin
|   |   |-- maven-compiler-plugin
|   |   |-- maven-deploy-plugin
|   |   |-- maven-install-plugin
|   |   `-- maven-resources-plugin
|   |-- packaging
          (default Maven 3)
|   |-- packaging-4
|   |   |-- maven-jar-plugin
|   |   `-- maven-source-plugin
|   |-- tools
          (default Maven 3)
|   `-- tools-4
|       `-- plugin-tools
...
|-- shared
      (default Maven 3)
|-- shared-4
|   |-- archiver
|   `-- filtering
...

From a Git perspective, though, this has been done by:

updating master default branch to Maven 4
creating a XXX-3.x branch for the Maven 3 branch

after discussion, the Git pattern is not consistent with our current approach (default for Maven 3, and Maven 4 specific when necessary)

for clarity, we need to switch the Git branches to match our intent:

rename master branch with Maven 4 specific code to XXX-4.x
rename XXX-3.x branch to master

on the few Git repositories:

5 core plugins
- default = 4️⃣: maven-clean-plugin / maven-clean-plugin-3.x / maven-clean-plugin-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-compiler-plugin / maven-compiler-plugin-3.x / maven-compiler-plugin-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-deploy-plugin / maven-deploy-plugin-3.x / maven-deploy-plugin-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-install-plugin / maven-install-plugin-3.x / maven-install-plugin-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-resources-plugin / maven-resources-plugin-3.x / maven-resources-plugin-4.x
2 packaging plugins
- default = 4️⃣: maven-jar-plugin / maven-jar-plugin-3.x / maven-jar-plugin-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-source-plugin / maven-source-plugin-3.x / maven-source-plugin-4.x
~~1 tool plugin~~
- ~~default = 3️⃣: plugin-tools / maven-plugin-tools-3.x / maven-plugin-tools-4.x~~
2 shared components
- default = 4️⃣: maven-archiver / maven-archiver-3.x / maven-archiver-4.x
- default = 4️⃣: maven-filtering / maven-filtering-3.x / maven-filtering-4.x

after deep dive into plugin-tools, master branch that currently builds 4.0.0-beta4-SNAPSHOT, is not a Maven 4 plugin: it remains a good old Maven 3 plugin, that perfectly works with Maven 3 and produces Maven 3 plugins
it just has new features to be able to create a Maven 4 plugin descriptor, with its new fields additions (like afters) and using Maven 4 API annotation instead of plugin-tools ones

=> let's simply drop maven-plugin-tools-3.x branch, keep current master and just update it to build 3.17.0-SNAPSHOT

what will be default branch in Maven core project? as we have

master - 4.1
4.0.x
3.10.x
3.9.x

I'm not sure what benefit we will have after such change, we will have the same branches to maintain

@slawekjaranowski

I agree with @slawekjaranowski. I'm not convinced that this renaming dance will not bring more confusion than what it aims to solve. The message that I would rather like to promote is that the master branches are the one where we would like peoples to put their effort, and the 3.x branches are in maintenance mode.

Next question what impact will be on current fork repo?

For me option would be to rename some branches to drop project name prefix and keep only 3.x as name.
Always we can set default branch to 3.x line without rename.

I'm also not convinced about this move.
I think our efforts are to push for Maven 4 so after year or less, we will again need to swap main branch to v4?

Perhaps it was not a good idea to spread feedback to too many places?

I just see this comment here while the whole procedure is already on its way.

If you generally object to the swap, would you mind to raise that in the dev@ mailing list (or perhaps find consensus within PMC first)?

I'm also miss discussion on dev@ list .....

@slawekjaranowski

I'm also miss discussion on dev@ list

@slawekjaranowski there is one — I sent a [NOTICE] to dev@ on 6 Oct that explicitly asks for objections: https://lists.apache.org/thread/zg052t20fww3ghzhc9mqyh969c1661z5

Let's consolidate the discussion there (as I suggested above), so the decision is made in one place. The pilot PR here is only to ground the mechanics — nothing is executed yet, and we won't proceed without consensus.

Switch default-branch metadata to Maven 3 (maven-sources#57)

update branches for Maven 3 vs 4 after #57

Follow the maven-sources#57 branch rename

Keep Dependabot off Maven 4 deps on the 3.x line

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update Git branches for Maven-4 specific plugins and components #57

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hboutemy commented on Sep 20, 2026

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