We are very close to Maven 3.0! In preparation for the release we are entering the RC phase [Sonatype][1] is seeking the Maven user community's help to discover regressions since Maven 2.x so that we can make the necessary provisions to correct any problems and push Maven 3.0 final out on schedule.
We know as the RCs are released more people will be trying Maven 3.x and feedback is critical. We obviously cannot fix your problem if you do not report the problem. Sonatype has two full-time people working on fielding the found issues so this is your chance to make sure Maven 3.0 final works for your projects. Sonatype has made a great deal of effort putting in place unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests for the core and the core plugins, so we're ready for the feedback and will correct anything we find quickly.
Anyone interested in taking a preview of the upcoming release for a test drive can get source and binary bundles from this URL:
[https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/maven-030/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/3.0-RC1/](https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/maven-030/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/3.0-RC1/)
Note that this is a staged release and we will keep re-staging while we find serious regressions, but we want to get users into this cycle of testing the RCs as soon as possible. Once we get past anything nasty we will release the final RC1.
Before reporting any issues found during testing, please be sure to have a close look at the compatibility notes for Maven 3.x:
[https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/Maven+3.x+Compatibility+Notes](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/Maven+3.x+Compatibility+Notes)
If you encounter unexpected build issues, please fill a report in JIRA that provides sufficient information to reproduce and analyze the issue:
[http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG](http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG)
The fixes contained in this release candidate since the 3.0-beta-3 release can also be seen in JIRA:
[http://jira.codehaus.org/secure/ReleaseNote.jspa?atl_token=PRIR5ueW-i&version=13142&styleName=Text&projectId=10500&Create=Create](http://jira.codehaus.org/secure/ReleaseNote.jspa?atl_token=PRIR5ueW-i&version=13142&styleName=Text&projectId=10500&Create=Create)
It's still possible to make our intended Maven 3.0 final release on October 1st, but we need your help!
Thanks!
[1]: http://www.sonatype.com
