Title: Releasing If you've never released before, you'll need to create a GPG key to use for signing the binaries. - http://maven.apache.org/developers/release/pmc-gpg-keys.html That key will need to be appended to this file: - http://www.apache.org/dist/openejb/KEYS As well, you'll need to ensure you have your `~/.m2/settings.xml` file updated like so: apache-release yourGpgPassphrase apache.snapshots.https yourApacheId yourApachePass apache.releases.https yourApacheId yourApachePass Note: if you get "authorization failed: Could not authenticate to server: rejected Basic challenge" error a workaround is to specify the user and password in the command line using -Dusername=XXX -Dpassword=YYYY. Another solution is to give them to maven release plugin but take care to not commit it!