---
title: Lock Files During Release
author: 
  - Carlos Sanchez _carlos@apache.org_
  - Brett Porter _brett@apache.org_
  - John Tolentino _jtolentino@apache.org_
date: 2010-01-03
---

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# Lock Files During Release

If you want to lock the files during a release operation set the property `useEditMode` to `true`. The default value of this property is `false`.

```
mvn release:perform -DuseEditMode=true
```

This relies on `release.properties` being present from a previous release preparation. If this is not the case, you need to give the goal the name of the URL and optional tag to perform the release from. For example:

```
mvn release:perform -DuseEditMode=true
  -DconnectionUrl=scm:svn:https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/maven/plugins/tags/maven-release-plugin-2.0
```

After the release is complete, the `release.properties` and other release files will be removed from the checkout.

