Allow --global-settings target arbitrary resources, e.g. scm:svn:http://svn.acme.com/infra/trunk/maven/settings.xml

I have no idea what you mean. Reopen the issue when you can provide an explanation.

This would require to shove Maven SCM into Maven core which doesn't look appealing.

For distributed builds which are utilizing clustered continuous integration (like Hudson), it is quite handy to have all slaves utilizing the same settings.xml file. The problem then becomes how to reliably get the settings.xml to slave node without requiring explicit configuration of those slaves. It would be far easier if I could store a Maven settings.xml file in some SCM and point to it via standard Maven URI of such a resource.

An example command line invocation might look like:

$ mvn --global-settings scm:svn:http://repo.acme.com/infrastructure/maven/settings.xml clean install

This would cause Maven to fetch settings.xml from SCM and use it for subsequent clean and install goal execution. The main issue I'm facing presently is that dynamically provisioned slave resources do not automatically mirrOf * to our corporate MRM.

Maven already supports a --global-settings configuration switch, I just would like it to be enhanced to be more robust in what it accepts.

something more appropriate/easy

mvn --global-settings http://repo.acme.com/infrastructure/maven/settings.xml clean install

This last proposal made by Oliver is a good compromise, especially in light of Benjamin's comment.