title: Execution default-cli of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.2.2:prepare failed. NullPointerException
body: <p>Here is the Context:
  I have successfully built the project with the following commands (called from maven-release-plugin in Jenkins)</p>
  
  <pre><code>mvn clean -Pall
  mvn generate-sources -Pgs 
  mvn -PjenkinsBuild install package assembly:single -Pall -Denvironment=dev
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, when I try to release the project with maven-release-plugin in Jenkins, with the following commands. It failed.(error log and pom at the end)</p>
  
  <pre><code>mvn -X release:prepare release:perform
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Tried some unsuccessful solutions:
  1.Modified the config of maven-release-plugin, suspecting developers and Jenkins are using different vesion of SVN.</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;plugin&gt;
    &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.maven.plugins&lt;/groupId&gt;
    &lt;artifactId&gt;maven-release-plugin&lt;/artifactId&gt;
    &lt;version&gt;2.4.1&lt;/version&gt;
    &lt;configuration&gt;
      &lt;branchBase&gt;${svn.base}/branches/releases&lt;/branchBase&gt;
      &lt;tagBase&gt;${svn.base}/tags/releases/&lt;/tagBase&gt;
      &lt;autoVersionSubmodules&gt;true&lt;/autoVersionSubmodules&gt;
      &lt;suppressCommitBeforeBranch&gt;true&lt;/suppressCommitBeforeBranch&gt;
      &lt;remoteTagging&gt;false&lt;/remoteTagging&gt;
      &lt;updateBranchVersions&gt;true&lt;/updateBranchVersions&gt;
      &lt;updateWorkingCopyVersions&gt;false&lt;/updateWorkingCopyVersions&gt;
      &lt;providerImplementations&gt;
            &lt;svn&gt;javasvn&lt;/svn&gt;
      &lt;/providerImplementations&gt;
    &lt;/configuration&gt;
    &lt;dependencies&gt;
      &lt;dependency&gt;
        &lt;groupId&gt;com.google.code.maven-scm-provider-svnjava&lt;/groupId&gt;
        &lt;artifactId&gt;maven-scm-provider-svnjava&lt;/artifactId&gt;
        &lt;version&gt;2.0.6&lt;/version&gt;
        &lt;scope&gt;compile&lt;/scope&gt;
      &lt;/dependency&gt;
    &lt;/dependencies&gt;
  &lt;/plugin&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <ol start="2">
  <li><p>Tried to added the groupID explicitly, according to one of the suggestions</p>
  
  <p>tc.strongview
  strongview-soap-client
  jar
  Strongview SOAP Client</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>And a section of the POM</p>
  
  <p>http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
      4.0.0</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;groupId&gt;tc.strongview&lt;/groupId&gt;
  &lt;artifactId&gt;strongview-etl-core&lt;/artifactId&gt;
  &lt;version&gt;0.2.0-SNAPSHOT&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;packaging&gt;pom&lt;/packaging&gt;
  
      &lt;scm&gt;
      &lt;connection&gt;
          scm:svn:https://xxxxxxxxx/svn/strongview-etl-core/branches/releases/strongview-etl-core-0.2
      &lt;/connection&gt;
      &lt;developerConnection&gt;
          scm:svn:https://xxxxxxxxx/svn/strongview-etl-core/branches/releases/strongview-etl-core-0.2
      &lt;/developerConnection&gt;
      &lt;url&gt;https://xxxxxxxxx/svn/strongview-etl-core/branches/releases/strongview-etl-core-0.2
      &lt;/url&gt;
      &lt;/scm&gt;
  
  &lt;parent&gt;
      &lt;groupId&gt;org.springframework.boot&lt;/groupId&gt;
      &lt;artifactId&gt;spring-boot-starter-parent&lt;/artifactId&gt;
      &lt;version&gt;1.2.3.RELEASE&lt;/version&gt;
      &lt;relativePath /&gt; &lt;!-- lookup parent from repository --&gt;
  &lt;/parent&gt;
  
  &lt;modules&gt;
      &lt;module&gt;strongview-etl-common&lt;/module&gt;
      &lt;module&gt;strongview-soap-client&lt;/module&gt;
      &lt;module&gt;strongview-etl-definitions&lt;/module&gt;
  &lt;/modules&gt;
  
  &lt;distributionManagement&gt;
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  &lt;/distributionManagement&gt;
  
  &lt;repositories&gt;
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  &lt;/repositories&gt;
  
  &lt;profiles&gt;
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  &lt;/profile&gt;
  
  &lt;/profiles&gt;
  
  &lt;properties&gt;
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  &lt;/properties&gt;
  
  &lt;build&gt;
      &lt;resources&gt;
          &lt;resource&gt;
              &lt;directory&gt;src/main/resources&lt;/directory&gt;
              &lt;filtering&gt;true&lt;/filtering&gt;
          &lt;/resource&gt;
      &lt;/resources&gt;
      &lt;extensions&gt;
          &lt;extension&gt;
              &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.maven.wagon&lt;/groupId&gt;
              &lt;artifactId&gt;wagon-ssh&lt;/artifactId&gt;
              &lt;version&gt;2.9&lt;/version&gt;
          &lt;/extension&gt;
          &lt;extension&gt;
              &lt;groupId&gt;com.github.shyiko.servers-maven-extension&lt;/groupId&gt;
              &lt;artifactId&gt;servers-maven-extension&lt;/artifactId&gt;
              &lt;version&gt;1.3.0&lt;/version&gt;
          &lt;/extension&gt;
      &lt;/extensions&gt;
  
      &lt;plugins&gt;
          &lt;plugin&gt;
              &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.maven.plugins&lt;/groupId&gt;
              &lt;artifactId&gt;maven-release-plugin&lt;/artifactId&gt;
              &lt;version&gt;2.5.2&lt;/version&gt;
              &lt;configuration&gt;
                  &lt;branchBase&gt;${svn.base}/branches/releases&lt;/branchBase&gt;
                  &lt;tagBase&gt;${svn.base}/tags/releases/&lt;/tagBase&gt;
                  &lt;autoVersionSubmodules&gt;true&lt;/autoVersionSubmodules&gt;
                  &lt;suppressCommitBeforeBranch&gt;true&lt;/suppressCommitBeforeBranch&gt;
                  &lt;remoteTagging&gt;false&lt;/remoteTagging&gt;
                  &lt;updateBranchVersions&gt;true&lt;/updateBranchVersions&gt;
                  &lt;updateWorkingCopyVersions&gt;false&lt;/updateWorkingCopyVersions&gt;
              &lt;/configuration&gt;
          &lt;/plugin&gt;
  
          &lt;plugin&gt;
              &lt;groupId&gt;org.apache.maven.plugins&lt;/groupId&gt;
              &lt;artifactId&gt;maven-assembly-plugin&lt;/artifactId&gt;
              &lt;configuration&gt;
                  &lt;descriptors&gt;
                      &lt;descriptor&gt;${project.parent.basedir}/assembly/distribution.xml&lt;/descriptor&gt;
                  &lt;/descriptors&gt;
                  &lt;appendAssemblyId&gt;false&lt;/appendAssemblyId&gt;
                  &lt;finalName&gt;${distribution.name}&lt;/finalName&gt;
                  &lt;includeProjectBuildFilters&gt;true&lt;/includeProjectBuildFilters&gt;
                  &lt;ignoreMissingDescriptor&gt;true&lt;/ignoreMissingDescriptor&gt;
              &lt;/configuration&gt;
          &lt;/plugin&gt;
  
          &lt;plugin&gt;
              &lt;groupId&gt;org.codehaus.mojo&lt;/groupId&gt;
              &lt;artifactId&gt;wagon-maven-plugin&lt;/artifactId&gt;
              &lt;version&gt;1.0&lt;/version&gt;
              &lt;configuration&gt;
                  &lt;serverId&gt;${deployment.server}&lt;/serverId&gt;
                  &lt;fromDir&gt;${project.build.directory}&lt;/fromDir&gt;
                  &lt;includes&gt;${distribution.name}.zip&lt;/includes&gt;
                  &lt;url&gt;scp://${etl.server.url}:${etl.server.distribution.dir}&lt;/url&gt;
              &lt;/configuration&gt;
          &lt;/plugin&gt;
  
      &lt;/plugins&gt;
  &lt;/build&gt;
  
  &lt;dependencyManagement&gt;
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  ...................................................
  &lt;/dependencies&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p></p>
  
  <p>New error log released with Maven 3.3.3 and maven-release-plugin 2.5.2 and simple "release:prepare release:perform"</p>
  
  <pre><code>Started by user 
  [EnvInject] - Loading node environment variables.
  Building on master in workspace /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven
  Cleaning up /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/.
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/pom.xml.releaseBackup
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/release.properties
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/pom.xml
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-etl-common/pom.xml.releaseBackup
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-soap-client/pom.xml.releaseBackup
  Deleting /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-etl-definitions/pom.xml.releaseBackup
  Updating https://xxxxxxxxx/svn/strongview-etl-core/branches/releases/strongview-etl-core-0.2 at revision '2015-08-04T15:33:30.474 -0400'
  At revision 80
  no change for https://xxxxxxxxx/svn/strongview-etl-core/branches/releases/strongview-etl-core-0.2 since the previous build
  Parsing POMs
  [strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven] $ /opt/jdk1.8.0_45/bin/java -Xmx2048m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m -cp /data/jenkins/plugins/maven-plugin/WEB-INF/lib/maven31-agent-1.4.jar:/data/jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.3.3/boot/plexus-classworlds-2.5.2.jar:/data/jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.3.3/conf/logging jenkins.maven3.agent.Maven31Main /data/jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.3.3 /var/cache/jenkins/war/WEB-INF/lib/remoting-2.36.jar /data/jenkins/plugins/maven-plugin/WEB-INF/lib/maven31-interceptor-1.4.jar /data/jenkins/plugins/maven-plugin/WEB-INF/lib/maven3-interceptor-commons-1.4.jar 35483
  Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM warning: ignoring option MaxPermSize=512m; support was removed in 8.0
  &lt;===[JENKINS REMOTING CAPACITY]===&gt;channel started
  log4j:WARN No appenders could be found for logger (org.apache.commons.beanutils.converters.BooleanConverter).
  log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly.
  Executing Maven:  -B -f /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/pom.xml -DdevelopmentVersion=0.2.1-SNAPSHOT -DreleaseVersion=0.2.0 -X -Dresume=false release:prepare release:perform
  Apache Maven 3.3.3 (7994120775791599e205a5524ec3e0dfe41d4a06; 2015-04-22T07:57:37-04:00)
  Maven home: /data/jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.3.3
  Java version: 1.8.0_45, vendor: Oracle Corporation
  Java home: /opt/jdk1.8.0_45/jre
  Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: UTF-8
  OS name: "linux", version: "2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.x86_64", arch: "amd64", family: "unix"
  [INFO] Error stacktraces are turned on.
  [DEBUG] Reading global settings from /data/jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.3.3/conf/settings.xml
  [DEBUG] Reading user settings from /home/jenkins/.m2/settings.xml
  [INFO] Scanning for projects...
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Reactor Build Order:
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] strongview-etl-core
  [INFO] Strongview SOAP Client
  [INFO] strongview-etl-common
  [INFO] strongview-etl-definitions
  [INFO]                                                                         
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Building strongview-etl-core 0.2.0-SNAPSHOT
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare (default-cli) @ strongview-etl-core ---
  [INFO] Verifying that there are no local modifications...
  [INFO]   ignoring changes on: **/pom.xml.releaseBackup, **/pom.xml.next, **/pom.xml.tag, **/pom.xml.branch, **/release.properties, **/pom.xml.backup
  [INFO] Executing: /bin/sh -c cd "/data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven" &amp;&amp; svn --non-interactive status
  [INFO] Working directory: /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven
  [DEBUG] ?       release.properties
  [DEBUG] Ignoring changed file: release.properties
  [INFO] Checking dependencies and plugins for snapshots ...
  [INFO] Transforming 'strongview-etl-core'...
  [INFO]   Ignoring artifact version update for expression ${project.version}
  [INFO]   Ignoring artifact version update for expression ${project.version}
  [INFO] Transforming 'Strongview SOAP Client'...
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Reactor Summary:
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] strongview-etl-core ................................ FAILURE [  2.944 s]
  [INFO] Strongview SOAP Client ............................. SKIPPED
  [INFO] strongview-etl-common .............................. SKIPPED
  [INFO] strongview-etl-definitions ......................... SKIPPED
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] BUILD FAILURE
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Total time: 5.724 s
  [INFO] Finished at: 2015-08-04T15:33:41-04:00
  [INFO] Final Memory: 20M/139M
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare (default-cli) on project strongview-etl-core: Execution default-cli of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare failed. NullPointerException -&gt; [Help 1]
  org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare (default-cli) on project strongview-etl-core: Execution default-cli of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare failed.
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:224)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:116)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:80)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:128)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:307)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:193)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:106)
      at org.jvnet.hudson.maven3.launcher.Maven31Launcher.main(Maven31Launcher.java:132)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
      at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchStandard(Launcher.java:330)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:238)
      at jenkins.maven3.agent.Maven31Main.launch(Maven31Main.java:181)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
      at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
      at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
      at hudson.maven.Maven3Builder.call(Maven3Builder.java:134)
      at hudson.maven.Maven3Builder.call(Maven3Builder.java:69)
      at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:118)
      at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:48)
      at hudson.remoting.Request$2.run(Request.java:328)
      at hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService$1.call(InterceptingExecutorService.java:72)
      at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
      at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
      at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
      at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
  Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginExecutionException: Execution default-cli of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.5.2:prepare failed.
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:145)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:208)
      ... 31 more
  Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractRewritePomsPhase.translateUrlPath(AbstractRewritePomsPhase.java:847)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.RewritePomsForReleasePhase.translateScm(RewritePomsForReleasePhase.java:202)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.RewritePomsForReleasePhase.transformScm(RewritePomsForReleasePhase.java:64)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractRewritePomsPhase.transformDocument(AbstractRewritePomsPhase.java:330)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractRewritePomsPhase.transformProject(AbstractRewritePomsPhase.java:231)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractRewritePomsPhase.transform(AbstractRewritePomsPhase.java:131)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.phase.AbstractRewritePomsPhase.execute(AbstractRewritePomsPhase.java:116)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:234)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:169)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:146)
      at org.apache.maven.shared.release.DefaultReleaseManager.prepare(DefaultReleaseManager.java:107)
      at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.prepareRelease(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:286)
      at org.apache.maven.plugins.release.PrepareReleaseMojo.execute(PrepareReleaseMojo.java:240)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:134)
      ... 32 more
  [ERROR] 
  [ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
  [ERROR] 
  [ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
  [ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/PluginExecutionException
  [JENKINS] Archiving /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-etl-definitions/pom.xml to tc.strongview/strongview-etl-definitions/0.2.0-SNAPSHOT/strongview-etl-definitions-0.2.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
  [JENKINS] Archiving /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-soap-client/pom.xml to tc.strongview/strongview-soap-client/0.2.0-SNAPSHOT/strongview-soap-client-0.2.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
  [JENKINS] Archiving /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/strongview-etl-common/pom.xml to tc.strongview/strongview-etl-common/0.2.0-SNAPSHOT/strongview-etl-common-0.2.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
  [JENKINS] Archiving /data/jenkins/workspace/strongview-etl-core-Release4 - Latest Maven/pom.xml to tc.strongview/strongview-etl-core/0.2.0-SNAPSHOT/strongview-etl-core-0.2.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
  channel stopped
  Finished: FAILURE
  </code></pre>