What repositories do you put in a generic pom file? - maven-2

Question

I am building a generic parent pom file for my projects.
In that file, I would like to have a list of most common Maven repositories, in order to have most dependencies available in the sub-projects (Jboss, Spring, etc.).
Here is this current pom:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>org.courtine</groupId>
<artifactId>parent</artifactId>
<packaging>pom</packaging>
<name>Parent</name>
<version>1.0</version>
<description>Common repositories</description>
<repositories>
<repository>
<id>javanet</id>
<name>Repository for Maven2</name>
<url>http://download.java.net/maven/2</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>google</id>
<name>Google repository for Maven2</name>
<url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/google-releases/</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>jboss</id>
<name>JBoss repository for Maven2</name>
<url>http://repository.jboss.org/maven2/</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.bundles.release</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - SpringSource Bundle Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/bundles/release</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.bundles.external</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - External Bundle Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/bundles/external</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.libraries.release</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - SpringSource Library Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/libraries/release</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.libraries.external</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - External Library Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/libraries/external</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
</project>
Is such a generic file listing common repositories a good idea?
Do you know other common public Maven repositories to put in such a generic pom file?

Answer 1

It is not a good idea to put repositories into a pom. Better use a Repository Manager like Nexus, Artifactory or Archiva.
In such kind of pom you should put things like default plugins with their appropriate revisions (pluginManagement) or dependencies which should be used (dependencyManagement).
Take a look for explanation into this. and take a look here how to setup this.

Answer 2

I have another option for doing what you want to do. You could using a profile in your settings.xml which reference all your repository for you (as an nexus/archiva will do).
I've posted something about his on my site.
Simply add this in your settings.xml:
<profile>
<id>my-repository</id>
<activation>
<!-- here we did not activat this profile by default -->
<activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
</activation>
<repositories>
<!-- list of standard repository -->
<repository>
<id>javanet</id>
<name>Repository for Maven2</name>
<url>http://download.java.net/maven/2</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>google</id>
<name>Google repository for Maven2</name>
<url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/google-releases/</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>jboss</id>
<name>JBoss repository for Maven2</name>
<url>http://repository.jboss.org/maven2/</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.bundles.release</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - SpringSource Bundle Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/bundles/release</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.bundles.external</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - External Bundle Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/bundles/external</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.libraries.release</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - SpringSource Library Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/libraries/release</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>com.springsource.repository.libraries.external</id>
<name>SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository - External Library Releases</name>
<url>http://repository.springsource.com/maven/libraries/external</url>
</repository>
<repository>
<id>intelligents-ia</id>
<name>Intelligents-ia Repository</name>
<url>http://intelligents-ia.com/maven2</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
</profile>
And you could build your project by adding -Pmy-repository on the command line:
mvn -Pmy-repository clean install
Or activate this profile by default by setting true on :
<activation>
<activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
</activation>