How do I upgrade the version of a maven plugin?

Question

I am using the maven-ear-plugin version 2.3.1 - I know there is a new version available: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-ear-plugin/

I can\'t work out how to upgra

Answer 1

How the version of a plugin is selected, along with discussion about the plugin versions in the superpom is covered in detail here.

Actually the currently selected answer isn't quite right. It should be

  
   
    
      
        maven-ear-plugin
        2.3.1
      
    
   
  

I explained why here:

"The regular plugins section also allows the version and default configuration to be defined, and this is where the confusion lies. It is technically valid to define the plugin version and default configuration here, but I find it easier to grok the pom when following this guideline:

If the plugin block is not defining an execution (and thus binding maven to do something in the lifecycle), put that block in pluginManagment"