I have an archetype deployed on cvs.apache.org/maven-snapshot-repository. There is no way for users to use this archetype without creating a dummy pom first so that the configuration in settings.xml (where i defined this repository) kicks in. IRC log : jorg does the archetype plugin take settings.xml in account ? I've defined it as http://rafb.net/paste/results/8ajh7v15.html , but when looking for the archetype it doesn't even go to that server jorg or maybe it's a pluginRepository instead ... trying jdcasey jorg: I think the active profiles in the settings.xml are only applied to the current project, so if you're executing without a current project I dunno that it will use them jorg oh drats jorg so i'll give the users a dummy pom + settings.xml to execute against.. mmmm jdcasey jorg: it might be nice to have in the future though... jdcasey it could modify the instance of the super-project that's loaded in memory jorg might be nice yes .. i don't see any other way jorg (unless your archetype is published to the primary download site or one of it's mirrors ofcourse) jdcasey file it, if you like jorg jdcasey so unless you've got your stuff on ibiblio nobody can easily use your archetype.