maven-release-plugin: Perform fails with 'working directory “…workspace\target\checkout\workspace” does not exist!'

Question

I have maven project that fails when release:perform is called, though release;prepare works as expected.

I have found the bug report (below) which certainly seems to resemble the issue I have but not entirely sure I understand the problem: MRELEASE516

The last few lines of output I get:

[INFO] Executing: cmd.exe /X /C "p4 -d E:\hudson\jobs\myHudsonJob\workspace\target\checkout -p 1.1.1.1:1111: client -d myProjectWorkspace-MavenSCM-E:\hudson\jobs\myHudsonJob\workspace\target\checkout"
[INFO] Executing goals 'deploy'...
[WARNING] Base directory is a file. Using base directory as POM location.
[WARNING] Maven will be executed in interactive mode, but no input stream has been configured for this MavenInvoker instance.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Error executing Maven.

Working directory "E:\hudson\jobs\myHudsonJob\workspace\target\checkout\workspace" does not exist!

From reading the bug report the possible cause of the error is related to my modules' structure, I've tried to outline it below:

/workspace
|
|+ pom.xml (root pom whose parent is the build pom, 
|           calling release:perform on this pom)
|           [Modules: moduleA and moduleB]
|
|- moduleA
   |+ pom.xml (parent is also build pom)
   |+ build/pom.xml (the build pom - no custom parent)
|- moduleB
   |+ pom.xml (parent is build pom)

It seems that the root pom should be in some common directory inside 'workspace' from the error but tried that and doesn't work, nor make sense as to why I need it.

What does the warning Base directory is a file want me to do instead?! It then figures that the base directory is workspace which then means the working directory is not found...any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

Having checked the SCM configuration it all looks ok to me...in each module and the root pom I have:

<scm>
<connection>
    scm:perforce:1.1.1.1:1111://rootToDirectoryContainingRelevantPom
</connection>
<developerConnection>
    scm:perforce:1.1.1.1:1111://rootToDirectoryContainingRelevantPom
</developerConnection>
</scm>

EDIT 2:

Maybe I have hit MRELEASE-261?

Answer 1

I got this working by using a newer version of the release plugin. The Maven super pom has a dependency on v2.0 of the release plugin defined. If you don't override this then that the version will be used.

You can specify a newer version when you run the plugin

  mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.2.1:perform

Or you can override the dependency version in your pom

  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.1</version>
  </plugin>

Answer 2

I'm not sure you're facing MRELEASE-516 (which is about release:prepare). However, I wonder if you have correct <scm> informations in each POM. Can you confirm this?

Answer 3

Working directory "E:\hudson\jobs\myHudsonJob\workspace\target\checkout\workspace" does not exist!

I just saw the above line in your log. It looks like you have some screwy path setting somewhere. Do you overwrite the Workspace somewhere? Check your configuration and try to eliminate as much as possible the optional settings.

Answer 4

In my case the same symptoms turned out to be a result of a bug in maven-release-plugin:2.2.1. See MRELEASE-705.

So to get rid of the error, I've got to put this into the parent pom:

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.0</version>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Answer 5

This error was occurring for us

Working directory E:\Data\myproject\target\checkout does not exist!

We're in the middle of a large transition of server tools and maven's release:prepare appeared to be failing silently, claiming the tags and version number changes had been pushed without error. However, after some research, these things had only been committed to the local git repository, not pushed - even though the release:prepare was executing commands to perform a push but never reported a failure -- even with the maven -e and -X command line parameters.

We're using Maven 3.3.9, maven release plugin 2.5.3, and git client 2.9.2.

Our end solution was to add a (or correct the, as your case may be) definition in maven's ~\.m2\settings.xml file for our git server (origin master) including username and password with privileges for pushing tags (as well as pushing to master). The id in the server definition for the git server needed to be the git server's hostname:

<servers>
  <server>
    <id>git-server</id>
    <username>dan</username>
    <password>changeit</password>
  </server>
<servers>

With this update, the tag completes on the server and the checkout occurred successfully.