failure with `Cannot invoke "String.length()" because "path" is null` about exists-maven-plugin

[chonton]

1. The pom in the example, as given, does not include exists-maven-plugin.
2. What behavior do you expect with
   a. altReleaseDeploymentRepository specified as property?
   b. altReleaseDeploymentRepository specified as direct configuration of release plugin?

[clembo590]

1. I am so sorry I messed up with the pom file --> now it is "fixed" so if you pull the changes and run mvn clean deploy it should work (as long as you have started the nexus docker container as described above) --> again sorry for the branch that did not contain the plugin...
2. altReleaseDeploymentRepository is specified in the settings-nexus-in-docker.xml and should NOT be modified.
   it should also NOT be set as a property and should not be set as configuration of release plugin (I do not use the release plugin)
   --> I expect that when I execute mvn clean deploy the first time then everything is deployed to nexus successfully. I expect that when I execute mvn clean deploy the second time (without making any changes) then the exists-maven-plugin manages to NOT perform the deploy and consider that the deploy was successfull because it would "upload" the same thing that was previously uploaded.
   I expect that after that, if I make any change (even just add a comment in the pom file) and execute mvn clean deploy then there would be a failure.

[chonton]

Thanks for your response. (I have edited my question, because prior formulation made no sense.)

Repositories specifies the "pull" location and Distribution Mangement specifies the "push" location of artifacts. Profiles can be used to activate alternative locations.

I suspect that altReleaseDeploymentRepository is a leftover from early (Maven 1) days. I'm disinclined to support altReleaseDeploymentRepository because:

1. exists-maven-plugin cannot read the configuration of the maven-deploy-plugin.
2. functionality provided by altReleaseDeploymentRepository can easily be provided by activating different profiles

I am inclined to provide a better error message if <distributionManagement> is not provided.

[clembo590]

Thanks a lot for your plugin and sorry again for the bad description.

Your plugin cannot read configuration fo the maven deploy plugin indeed BUT it can read properties right ?
and altReleaseDeploymentRepository is nothing else but a property. (that property can indeed be modified by profiles...)
This is exatly what I am doing here
I am creating a profile and I modify the property inside it...

(I am not sure why you are talking to me about repositories and the fact that it is about pulling: that is also exactly what I wrote here

If in the pom file if there is this section then no problem....

  <distributionManagement>
    <repository>
      <id>my-internal-repository</id>
      <url>http://something</url>
    </repository>
    <snapshotRepository>
      <id>my-internal-repository</id>
      <url>http://somethingElse</url>
    </snapshotRepository>
  </distributionManagement>

but this is exactly what I want to avoid:
I want my build to be fully reproducible and if in 2 years we have to switch from one nexus to the other, I do not want my builds to be different. (ie I do not accept to have a distributionManagement section in my pom file).

I hope you understand my issue and thanks again for your plugin anyway.

[chonton]

It's unreasonable to expect not to update your pom after two years. Vulnerabilities will have been detected and dependencies will need updating.

You can use properties in your distributionManagement element. See org.honton.chas.exists.it:parent for an example.

[chonton]

0.13.0 will issue error message if distributionManagement is not set when using the remote goal