build - Maven - How/Why/Should it work to set the parent version to be based on a property defined in the parent pom? -

i have following pom structures:

/home/projects/parent/pom.xml

<project>    <groupid>com.my.group</groupid>    <artifactid>project-super-parent</artifactid>     <version>${major.version}.${minor.version}</version>     <packaging>pom</packaging>     <properties>             <major.version>7</major.version>             <minor.version>5</minor.version>             <current.release.version>${major.version}.${minor.version}-snapshot</current.release.version>             ...     </properties>      ....  </project> 

/home/projects/module1/pom.xml

<project>    <groupid>com.my.group</groupid>    <artifactid>module1</artifactid>     <version>${current.release.version}</version>     <packaging>jar</packaging>       <parent>         <groupid>com.my.group</groupid>         <artifactid>project-super-parent</artifactid>         <version>${major.version}.${minor.version}</version>         <relativepath>../parent</relativepath>     </parent>      ... </project> 

notice module not know version of it's parent - uses property defined in parent, kind of chicken & egg problem.

the weird thing - works - when want change major version of product - change single pom file (the parent).

the limitations solution have have pom files on file system.

my questions are: should work? how work? stop working when upgrade maven 3? commonly used solution or abuse of system?

currently using maven 2.2.1 , java 7.

is commonly used solution or abuse of system?

that not common, @ least have never seen before. versioning have in parent/pom.xml , module1/pom.xml cause confusion. parent has released version of 7.5, while module1 has snapshot version of 7.5. should not developing 7.5-snapshot if 7.5 released.

the simplest way avoid duplication maintain version only in parent. can omit version declaration in module1. take project, e.g. maven-3 source code example. able see the version declared in parent pom, , not in of child poms.

maven-release-plugin handle version upgrade , release them you.