If we take a look at the various plugin configurations, we can see the HSQLDB dependencies duplicated in several places. Unfortunately, dependencyManagement doesn’t apply to plugin dependencies, but we can still use a property to consolidate the versions. Most complex Maven multimodule projects tend to define all versions in the top-level POM. This top-level POM then becomes a focal point for changes that affect the entire project. Think of version numbers as string literals in a Java class; if you are constantly repeating a literal, you’ll likely want to make it a variable so that when it needs to be changed, you have to change it in only one place. Rolling up the version of HSQLDB into a property in the top-level POM yields the following properties element:

<project>
    ...
    <properties>
        <hibernate.annotations.version>3.3.0.ga</hibernate.annotations.version>
        <hsqldb.version>1.8.0.7</hsqldb.version>
    </properties>
    ...
</project>

The next thing we notice is that the hibernate3-maven-plugin configuration is duplicated in the simple-webapp and simple-command modules. We can manage the plugin configuration in the top-level POM just as we managed the dependencies in the top-level POM with the dependencyManagement section. To do this, we use the pluginManagement element in the top-level POM’s build element:

<project>
    ...
    <build>
        <pluginManagement>
            <plugins>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                    <configuration>
                        <source>1.5</source>
                        <target>1.5</target>
                    </configuration>
                </plugin>
                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                    <artifactId>hibernate3-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>2.1</version>
                    <configuration>
                        <components>
                            <component>
                                <name>hbm2ddl</name>
                                <implementation>annotationconfiguration</implementation>
                            </component>
                        </components>
                    </configuration>
                    <dependencies>
                        <dependency>
                            <groupId>hsqldb</groupId>
                            <artifactId>hsqldb</artifactId>
                            <version>${hsqldb.version}</version>
                        </dependency>
                    </dependencies>
                </plugin>
            </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>
    </build>
    ...
</project>