These are the current .m2/settings setting the I have successfully used to stage a mahout release candidate.
Requirements: Java 1.8 Maven >=3.3.9 Note the upgrade of A http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.1.0.xsd to 1.1.10 from 1.0.o which is a pretty major upgrade in terms of the elements used. <settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.1.0.xsd"> <localRepository>${user.home}/.m2/repository</localRepository> <interactiveMode>true</interactiveMode> <offline>false</offline> <!-- To publish a release for staging to NEXUS via Maven --> <profiles> <profile> <id>apache-release</id> <properties> <gpg.keyname>THE_EIGHT_DIGIT_GPG_SIGNING_KEY_YOURE_USING</gpg.keyname> <gpg.passphrase>PASSPHRASE_TO_YOUR_SIGNING_KEY</gpg.passphrase> <deploy.altRepository>mahout.releases::default::https://repository.apache.org/service/local/staging/deploy/maven2/</deploy.altRepository> <url>https://repository.apache.org/service/local/staging/deploy/maven2/</url> </properties> </profile> <profile> <activation> <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault> </activation> <gpg.keyname>ASF_LDAP_USRNAME</gpg.keyname> # EDIT this </properties> </profile> </profiles> <servers> <!-- To publish a snapshot to Maven --> <server> <id>apache.snapshots.https</id> <username>website</id> <username>ASF_LDAP_USRNAME</username> # EDIT this <password>ASF_LDAP_USRNAME</password> # EDIT this </server> <!-- To publish a website of some part of Maven --> <server> <id>apache.website</id> <username>ASF_LDAP_USRNAME</username> # EDIT this <password>MY_ASF_LDAP_PASSWORD</password> # EDIT this <filePermissions>664</filePermissions> <directoryPermissions>775</directoryPermissions> </server> <!-- To stage a release via Maven --> <server> <id>apache.releases.https</id> <username>ASF_LDAP_USERNAME</username> <password>ASF_LDAP_PASSWORD</password> # EDIT this <privateKey>${user.home}/.ssh/id_rsa</privateKey> <passphrase>PASSWORD_TO_YOUR_PRIVATE_SSH_KEY</passphrase> # EDIT this <filePermissions>664</filePermissions> <directoryPermissions>775</directoryPermissions> <configuration></configuration> </server> <server> <id>THE_EIGHT_DIGIT_GPG_SIGNING_KEY_YOURE_USING</id> <passphrase>PASSPHRASE_TO_YOUR_SIGNING_KEY</passphrase> # EDIT this </server> <!-- To stage a website of some part of Maven --> <server> <id>apache.website/id> <!-- must match repository identifier in site:stage-deploy --> <username>ASF_LDAP_USERNAME</username> # EDIT this <filePermissions>664</filePermissions> <directoryPermissions>775</directoryPermissions> </server> </servers> </settings>