Index: maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/scm/DefaultScmTranslator.java
===================================================================
--- maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/scm/DefaultScmTranslator.java	(revision 0)
+++ maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/scm/DefaultScmTranslator.java	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package org.apache.maven.shared.release.scm;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Default SCM Translator which gets used if no other one gets
+ * detected via the role-hint.
+ *
+ * The DefaultScmTranslator will change nothing but only return the default SCM values.
+ * If a SCM has special Url or Tag rules, it should implement an own
+ * ScmTranslator instead.
+ * 
+ * @author <a href="mailto:struberg@yahoo.de">Mark Struberg</a>
+ */
+public class DefaultScmTranslator implements ScmTranslator
+{
+
+    /** {@inheritDoc} */
+    public String translateBranchUrl( String url, String branchName, String branchBase )
+    {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    /** {@inheritDoc} */
+    public String translateTagUrl( String url, String tag, String tagBase )
+    {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    /** {@inheritDoc} */
+    public String resolveTag( String tag )
+    {
+        return tag;
+    }
+}

Property changes on: maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/scm/DefaultScmTranslator.java
___________________________________________________________________
Added: svn:eol-style
   + native

Index: maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/phase/GenerateReleasePomsPhase.java
===================================================================
--- maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/phase/GenerateReleasePomsPhase.java	(revision 1332950)
+++ maven-release-manager/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/release/phase/GenerateReleasePomsPhase.java	(working copy)
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.ReleaseResult;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.config.ReleaseDescriptor;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.env.ReleaseEnvironment;
+import org.apache.maven.shared.release.scm.DefaultScmTranslator;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.scm.ReleaseScmCommandException;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.scm.ScmTranslator;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.util.ReleaseUtil;
@@ -251,18 +252,17 @@
             ScmRepository scmRepository = getScmRepository( releaseDescriptor, releaseEnvironment );
             ScmTranslator scmTranslator = getScmTranslator( scmRepository );
 
-            if ( scmTranslator != null )
+            if ( scmTranslator == null )
             {
-                releaseModel.setScm( createReleaseScm( releaseModel.getScm(), scmTranslator, releaseDescriptor ) );
+                String message = "No SCM translator found - rewriting with the default values";
+                result.appendDebug(message);
+                getLogger().debug( message );
+
+                // use this ScmTranslator as default. This will just set the tag
+                scmTranslator = new DefaultScmTranslator();
             }
-            else
-            {
-                String message = "No SCM translator found - skipping rewrite";
 
-                result.appendDebug( message );
-
-                getLogger().debug( message );
-            }
+            releaseModel.setScm( createReleaseScm( releaseModel.getScm(), scmTranslator, releaseDescriptor ) );
         }
 
         // rewrite dependencies