How can I update the parent of a non-module with versions-maven-plugin?

Question

I have a project x with several modules, as usual in Maven, x-api, x-impl etc.

To keep things together, there is also a directory x-ear, which contains the EAR project, which will be deployed in the App Server. It's not part of the <modules> within the x POM, since it shouldn't take part in a normal reactor build. It does, however, have the same parent x.

Our release is done with the help of the versions-maven-plugin. Specifically, we create a new SNAPSHOT using

mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=1.2.0-SNAPSHOT -DgenerateBackupPoms=false

Everything works well for the project and its modules (note that the modules don't have a version of their own, they inherit it from the project parent).

But, of course, the x-ear is not updated, since it's not part of the reactor build.

I tried a cd into the directory and using versions.set or versions:update-parent, but they don't work.

Does anyone know the magic command? :-)

Answer 1

Thanks to khmarbaise for giving me the obvious answer: Just include the EAR as a normal module within the project.