---
title: Clean a Release
author: 
  - Dennis Lundberg _dennisl@apache.org_
date: 2010-01-03
---

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# Clean a Release

[`release:clean` goal](../clean-mojo.html) cleans up after a release preparation. This is done automatically after a successful `release:perform`, so is best served for cleaning up a failed or abandoned release, or a dry run.

Note that only the working copy is cleaned up, no previous steps are rolled back in SCM.

Cleaning a release goes through the following release phases:

- Delete the release descriptor \(`release.properties`\)
- Delete any backup POM files

To clean a release execute this command:

```
mvn release:clean
```

