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GSoC 2025 - Maven Central publishing plugin for Gradle with new APIs#

This project aims to develop a new Gradle plugin compatible with the updated Maven Central APIs, simplifying the publishing process through Kotlin DSL extensions and automating essential tasks.

The long-term goal of the project is to provide a reliable Maven Central publishing plugin based on the latest Gradle APIs and Kotlin DSL, standardizing and simplifying publishing process across the Gradle ecosystem to help many open-source developers distribute their libraries more easily.

Gradle and GSoC logos

Team#

Contributor#

Mentors#

Organization#

Technologies#

  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • Gradle
  • Maven Central
  • Kotlin DSL

Rationale#

Maven Central is a key repository for publishing JVM libraries. It is currently migrating to a new version with a different API, which existing Gradle plugins don’t fully support yet.

Developing a Gradle plugin compatible with the new Maven Central API will help library authors publish smoothly and adapt easily to the changes.

First Coding Phase#

Deliverables#

  • Implemented a hierarchical POM configuration mechanism (#8)
  • Enabled per-project overrides through the project-level DSL (#8)
  • Implement validation to detect missing or incorrect metadata early.
  • Develop a Generic Maven Central Compliance Verification Tool to catch common publishing errors (e.g., missing signatures, malformed POMs) before release (#9).

Summary / Idea#

In this phase, we focused on implementing a hierarchical approach to POM metadata configuration to improve usability in multi-module projects. Drawing inspiration from pomFromGradleProperties(), the plugin now lets users define shared defaults—such as the organization name, license, and developer information—at the root level. At the same time, it supports detailed customization at the individual project level. This approach cuts down on boilerplate and helps maintain consistency across modules in large codebases.

References#