Maven + Mercurial: Error while executing command tag

Question

I want to release a new version of my project using the Maven-Release-Plugin.

I get the following error, though:

[INFO] Tagging release with the label softsmithy-lib-v0.1...                                                                                     
[INFO] EXECUTING: /bin/sh -c cd /var/lib/hudson/jobs/SoftSmithy-Utility-Library-Release && hg tag --message '[maven-release-plugin]  copy for tag softsmithy-lib-v0.1' softsmithy-lib-v0.1                                                                                                        
[ERROR]                                                                                                                                          
EXECUTION FAILED                                                                                                                                 
  Execution of cmd : tag failed with exit code: 255.                                                                                             
  Working directory was:                                                                                                                         
    /var/lib/hudson/jobs/SoftSmithy-Utility-Library-Release                                                                                      
  Your Hg installation seems to be valid and complete.                                                                                           
    Hg version: 1.7.5 (OK)                                                                                                                       


[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR                                                            
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] An error is occurred in the tag process: Exception while executing SCM command.

Error while executing command tag --message [maven-release-plugin]  copy for tag softsmithy-lib-v0.1 softsmithy-lib-v0.1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------                                         
[INFO] Trace                                                                                                            
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: An error is occurred in the tag process: Exception while executing SCM command.
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:719)                         
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:569)                
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:539)                          
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)         
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:284)                  
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)                              
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)                                                              
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:138)                                                                
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)                                                                       
        at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:60)                                                     
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)                                                                 
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)                                               
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)                                       
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)                                                                            
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)                                                         
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)                                                                 
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)                                                       
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)                                                                   
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: An error is occurred in the tag process: Exception while executing SCM command.
        at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.prepareRelease(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:215)                                
        at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.execute(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:181)                                       
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:490)                                        
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)                            
        ... 17 more                                                                                                                       
Caused by: org.apache.maven.shared.release.ReleaseExecutionException: An error is occurred in the tag process: Exception while executing SCM command.                                                                                                                                             
        at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.ScmTagPhase.execute(ScmTagPhase.java:113)                                                       
        at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:203)                                         
        at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:140)                                         
        at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:103)                                         
        at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.prepareRelease(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:211)                                       
        ... 20 more                                                                                                                              
Caused by: org.apache.maven.scm.ScmException: Exception while executing SCM command.                                                             
        at org.apache.maven.scm.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:63)                                                         
        at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.hg.HgScmProvider.tag(HgScmProvider.java:239)                                                            
        at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.AbstractScmProvider.tag(AbstractScmProvider.java:706)                                                   
        at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.ScmTagPhase.execute(ScmTagPhase.java:109)                                                       
        ... 24 more                                                                                                                              
Caused by: org.apache.maven.scm.ScmException: Error while executing command tag --message [maven-release-plugin]  copy for tag softsmithy-lib-v0.1 softsmithy-lib-v0.1                                                                                                                            
        at org.apache.maven.scm.provider.hg.command.tag.HgTagCommand.executeTagCommand(HgTagCommand.java:105)                                    
        at org.apache.maven.scm.command.tag.AbstractTagCommand.executeCommand(AbstractTagCommand.java:81)                                        
        at org.apache.maven.scm.command.AbstractCommand.execute(AbstractCommand.java:59)                                                         
        ... 27 more         

I tried to run

/bin/sh -c cd /var/lib/hudson/jobs/SoftSmithy-Utility-Library-Release && hg tag --message '[maven-release-plugin]  copy for tag softsmithy-lib-v0.1' softsmithy-lib-v0.1

and it worked fine!

Any ideas what is going wrong?

PS: I noted that on the following site: http://maven.apache.org/scm/matrix.html

it is mentioned that the Mercurial tag command is not supported, but it seems to execute the command (and then fails somehow). How can I use the Maven Release Plugin with Mercurial?

PPS: This only seems to happen for multi-module projects. Single POM project runs fine. I tried -DpreparationGoals="clean install" but it didn't help.

Answer 1

I finally found the solution:

The required parent POM

<groupId>org.sonatype.oss</groupId>
<artifactId>oss-parent</artifactId>
<version>6</version>

uses Maven Release Plugin version 2.0

Unfortunatly, there is an issue with multi-module projects using Mercurial. The issue goes away, when using version 2.1

Work-around: override the version in the project POM/ project parent POM.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>2.1</version>
  <configuration>
    <mavenExecutorId>forked-path</mavenExecutorId>
    <useReleaseProfile>false</useReleaseProfile>
    <arguments>-Psonatype-oss-release</arguments>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

I filed an issue here: https://issues.sonatype.org/browse/OSSRH-1388