Allow definining properties directly in settings.xml

This is another aspect where Maven makes simple things hard.

In my settings.xml, I want to have the following
<settings>
...
<properties>...</properties>
...
</settings>

but that's not working, reading the doc, I found that I have to
1. create a profile
2. make the profile active
3. define the property I want.

I understand the need to have properties bound to a certain profile, but I do need profile relevant properties.

Thanks