From 03f982598db6871ebc6858b75796bec3827b4765 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: elharo <elharo@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:38:47 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Fix #12604: DefaultSettingsBuilder dead Windows
 drive-relative path handling

Remove the always-false condition !file.isAbsolute() && file.toString().startsWith(File.separator) which is dead code on all platforms - paths starting with the file separator are already absolute.

Replace with !file.isAbsolute() (skipping paths containing ${} placeholders that need later interpolation). This correctly resolves all relative local repository paths to absolute, not just the never-reached Windows-specific case.
---
 .../apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilder.java    |  7 ++++---
 .../impl/DefaultSettingsBuilderFactoryTest.java      | 12 ++++++++++++
 .../settings/settings-relative-local-repo.xml        |  5 +++++
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 impl/maven-impl/src/test/resources/settings/settings-relative-local-repo.xml

diff --git a/impl/maven-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilder.java b/impl/maven-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilder.java
index b5014498bf24..498e739db1b6 100644
--- a/impl/maven-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilder.java
+++ b/impl/maven-impl/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilder.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import javax.xml.stream.Location;
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
 
-import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -128,11 +127,13 @@ public SettingsBuilderResult build(SettingsBuilderRequest request) throws Settin
                     .build();
         }
 
-        // for the special case of a drive-relative Windows path, make sure it's absolute to save plugins from trouble
+        // resolve relative local repository paths to absolute to save plugins from trouble.
+        // paths containing property placeholders like ${user.home} must be left as-is
+        // so that later interpolation can resolve them.
         String localRepository = effective.getLocalRepository();
         if (localRepository != null && !localRepository.isEmpty()) {
             Path file = Paths.get(localRepository);
-            if (!file.isAbsolute() && file.toString().startsWith(File.separator)) {
+            if (!file.isAbsolute() && !localRepository.contains("${")) {
                 effective = effective.withLocalRepository(file.toAbsolutePath().toString());
             }
         }
diff --git a/impl/maven-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilderFactoryTest.java b/impl/maven-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilderFactoryTest.java
index f76b9067be6c..f4a9fef36553 100644
--- a/impl/maven-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilderFactoryTest.java
+++ b/impl/maven-impl/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/impl/DefaultSettingsBuilderFactoryTest.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
@@ -160,6 +161,17 @@ void testSettingsWithDuplicateServersIds() throws Exception {
                 problems.problems().findFirst().orElseThrow().getMessage());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testRelativeLocalRepositoryIsResolvedToAbsolute() {
+        Settings settings = execute("settings-relative-local-repo").getEffectiveSettings();
+
+        String localRepository = settings.getLocalRepository();
+        assertNotNull(localRepository);
+        assertFalse(localRepository.isEmpty());
+        Path repoPath = Paths.get(localRepository);
+        assertTrue(repoPath.isAbsolute(), "Relative local repository should be resolved to absolute");
+    }
+
     private Path getSettings(String name) {
         return Paths.get("src/test/resources/settings/" + name + ".xml").toAbsolutePath();
     }
diff --git a/impl/maven-impl/src/test/resources/settings/settings-relative-local-repo.xml b/impl/maven-impl/src/test/resources/settings/settings-relative-local-repo.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cf888feccf12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/impl/maven-impl/src/test/resources/settings/settings-relative-local-repo.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<settings xmlns='http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0'>
+  <localRepository>relative/repo</localRepository>
+</settings>