Add property to keep released versions for dependencies

Setting the updateDependencies flag to false doesn't change the dependencies at all:
I have a small project with modules:

[INFO] Reactor build order:
[INFO] Test parent POM
[INFO] Test Common lib
[INFO] Test Module 1 lib
[INFO] Test Module 2 lib
[INFO] Test Webapp

With all modules inheriting from the Parent POM (at the root)
Module 1 and Module 2 both has Common lib as a dependency
Webapp has Common, Module 1 and Module 2 has dependencies.
Everything is 1.0-SNAPSHOT

I start the release:prepare and enter the new versions.
the pom.xml.tag files are fine.
But I would expect the pom.xml.next files to:
-Have the version set to the next development version --> OK
-Have the parent version set to the parent next version --> OK
-Have the dependencies keep the tagged version --> KO, it keeps the SNAPSHOT version before the release

[DEBUG] Configuring mojo 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.0-beta-6:prepare' -->
[DEBUG] (f) addSchema = true
[DEBUG] (f) autoVersionSubmodules = false
[DEBUG] (s) basedir = c:\eclipse\workspace\test-m2
[DEBUG] (f) commitByProject = false
[DEBUG] (f) dryRun = true
[DEBUG] (f) generateReleasePoms = false
[DEBUG] (f) preparationGoals = clean verify
[DEBUG] (f) project = org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@e9eb54c7
[DEBUG] (f) reactorProjects = [org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@e9eb54c7, org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@e6f1aaf9, org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@4f8f9b35, org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@14217d54, org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject@fc355cf0]
[DEBUG] (f) resume = true
[DEBUG] (f) scmCommentPrefix = [maven-release-plugin]
[DEBUG] (f) settings = org.apache.maven.settings.Settings@12884e0
[DEBUG] (f) updateDependencies = false
[DEBUG] (f) useEditMode = false
[DEBUG] – end configuration –

beta-5 is already released. sheduling for next rev.

Is this still valid for the released 2.0-beta-7 version?

Otherwise attaching a sample project would be very helpful.

Remove Fix Version, since there has been no response from users.

I tested it with 2.0-beta-8 and it works fine when performing a real release.

However, when testing with -DdryRun=true the dependencies are not updated in the file pom.xml.next.
in pom.xml.releaseBackup the dependencies have version 1.0-SNAPSHOT
in pom.xml.tag they have version 1.0 (as specified)
in pom.xml.next they have version 1.0-SNAPSHOT while I would expect 1.0

So this the behavior I described in my previous comment, I probably didn't try a real release at the time and just a dryRun.

Should we close this issue and I open a new one for the dryRun bug?

I've just tested this with 2.0-beta-8 and I don't think it works.
I have 2 projects:

proj1
proj2

proj2 dependes on proj1.
If I have a SNAPSHOT dependency in proj2 to proj1 and executes:

mvn release:prepare -DupdateDependencies=false
mvn release:perform

The resulting pom for proj2 will look like this after the release:
...
<dependency>
<groupId>nu.sunfire</groupId>
<artifactId>proj1</artifactId>
<version>1.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>
...
I would expect the version to be 1.0....
During the prepare work, I get the question of which the next development version for proj1 should be, and nothing but a SNAPSHOT version can be entered?

After digging into the code it looks like the actual bug is in ReleaseManager rather than the plugin itself:

//MRELEASE-220
if ( mappedVersion != null && mappedVersion.endsWith( "SNAPSHOT" ) &&
!dependencyVersion.endsWith( "SNAPSHOT" ) && !releaseDescriptor.isUpdateDependencies() )

The "fix" that I proposed seems to be working on my test projects. Don't have enough data to guarantee that it is the correct fix, but if someone else can verify that it works for them I think a new version with the fix applied would be nice.