diff --git a/maven-plugin-pmd-build/config/m2.settings.xml b/maven-plugin-pmd-build/config/m2.settings.xml
index cf2ba7940d..290bb3e028 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-pmd-build/config/m2.settings.xml
+++ b/maven-plugin-pmd-build/config/m2.settings.xml
@@ -3,6 +3,21 @@
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0
                       http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">
 
+  <activeProfiles>
+    <activeProfile>gpg-settings</activeProfile>
+  </activeProfiles>
+  
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>gpg-settings</id>
+      <properties>
+        <!-- this key will be used by the maven gpg plugin during release -->
+        <gpg.keyname>your-gpg-key</gpg.keyname>
+        <gpg.passphrase>your-passphrase</gpg.passphrase>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+
   <servers>
     <!-- to upload to sonatype maven central.
          See https://docs.sonatype.org/display/Repository/Sonatype+OSS+Maven+Repository+Usage+Guide -->
diff --git a/pmd/etc/release_process.txt b/pmd/etc/release_process.txt
index 2650869d8c..8d8a78bbfc 100644
--- a/pmd/etc/release_process.txt
+++ b/pmd/etc/release_process.txt
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ $ svn status
 
 Ensure all the new rules are listed in a rulesets/releases/<version>.xml file.
 
-Update pom.xml:
-* remove "SNAPSHOT" from the version
-* make sure that scm/*connection are pointing to the subversion tag, that will be created soon.
-
 Update the "download" and "what's new" link in navigation.xml.
 
 Update version/release info in etc/changelog.txt.
@@ -26,20 +22,44 @@ Unzip and test manually (just to be on the safe side of the road):
 Check in all (version) changes to trunk:
 $ svn ci -m "pmd: Prepare pmd release <version>"
 
-Create a tag from trunk:
-$ svn cp https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/trunk/pmd https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/tags/pmd/pmd_release_<version>
+
+Let the maven create a release branch (note - this is of course not needed if you are already on a release/maintenance
+branch). Maven will automatically increase the version in trunk.
+
+$ mvn release:branch -DbranchName=<version>.x
+
+Now checkout the created branch.
+
+$ svn co https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/branches/pmd/<version>.x
+$ cd <version>.x
+
+Now let maven create a release tag.
+
+$ mvn release:clean release:prepare
+
+The next command will checkout PMD from the tag just created and will build and deploy it
+to sonatype OSS repositories:
+
+$ mvn release:perform
+
 
 Note:
-If you see a bug and fix it, you can delete the release using the following command (and then
-recreate the tag):
-$ svn delete https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/tags/pmd/pmd_release_<version>
+If you see a bug and fix it, you can rollback the release
+(see http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-release-plugin/examples/rollback-release.html):
+$ mvn release:rollback
+You probably need to delete the release tag manually using the following command (and then
+start again with release:clean release:prepare):
+$ svn delete https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/tags/pmd/pmd-<version>
 
-Update pom.xml in trunk:
-* increment the version and add "SNAPSHOT"
-* make sure that scm/*connection are pointing to trunk.
 
-Check in the changes to trunk:
-$ svn ci -m "pmd: Increment version to the next SNAPSHOT"
+Finally, in order to publish the release to Maven central, you need to release PMD via Sonatype Nexus:
+- Login to https://oss.sonatype.org/
+- Go to Staging Repositories page
+- Select a staging repository
+- Click the close button
+- Now you can download the artifacts again and verify they are working.
+- Once you are sure they are working, click "Release" and the artifacts are eventually available through maven central.
+
 
 
 Public the release on sourceforge:
@@ -50,11 +70,11 @@ Public the release on sourceforge:
 
 Upload command below will create and upload the maven artifacts to sourceforge. Login info
 for 'pmd-repo' and 'pmd-site' must be defined in ~/.m2/settings.xml
-(see the file available in tools/config/m2.settings.xml):
+(see the file available in ../../maven-plugin-pmd-build/config/m2.settings.xml):
 
 $ ssh your_sf_login,pmd@shell.sourceforge.net create
 ...
-$ mvn source:jar javadoc:jar deploy -Psf-release    (order of target DOES matter)
+$ mvn deploy -Psf-release
 
 (In order to be able to upload the artifacts and the site to sourceforge, you need to have a interactive shell opened
 before)
diff --git a/pmd/pom.xml b/pmd/pom.xml
index 8d7d60ab10..508a2e70b5 100644
--- a/pmd/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd/pom.xml
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@
     <scm>
         <connection>scm:svn:https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/trunk/pmd</connection>
         <developerConnection>scm:svn:https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/trunk/pmd</developerConnection>
-        <url>http://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pmd/</url>
+        <url>http://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pmd/trunk/pmd</url>
     </scm>
     <organization>
         <name>InfoEther</name>
@@ -456,6 +456,14 @@
                 </execution>
               </executions>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <branchBase>https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/branches/pmd/</branchBase>
+                    <tagBase>https://pmd.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/pmd/tags/pmd/</tagBase>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
     <dependencies>
@@ -609,6 +617,44 @@
                     <url>scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/project-web/pmd/htdocs</url>
                 </site>
             </distributionManagement>
+            <build>
+                <plugins>
+                    <plugin>
+                      <inherited>true</inherited>
+                      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                      <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
+                      <executions>
+                        <execution>
+                          <id>attach-sources</id>
+                          <goals>
+                            <goal>jar</goal>
+                          </goals>
+                        </execution>
+                      </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+                    <plugin>
+                      <inherited>true</inherited>
+                      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                      <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
+                      <executions>
+                        <execution>
+                          <id>attach-javadocs</id>
+                          <goals>
+                              <goal>jar</goal>
+                          </goals>
+                        </execution>
+                      </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+                    <plugin>
+                      <inherited>true</inherited>
+                      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                      <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
+                      <configuration>
+                          <updateReleaseInfo>true</updateReleaseInfo>
+                      </configuration>
+                    </plugin>
+                </plugins>
+            </build>
         </profile>
 
         <profile>