diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ea12f70..8c27e38 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -40,11 +40,13 @@
     <developerConnection>scm:git:git@github.com:samskivert/jmustache.git</developerConnection>
     <url>http://github.com/samskivert/jmustache</url>
   </scm>
-<!-- 
+
+  <!-- we only uncomment this when checking for plugin updates, due to Maven inanity
   <prerequisites>
     <maven>3.3.0</maven>
   </prerequisites>
- -->
+  -->
+
   <properties>
     <source.level>1.7</source.level>
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
@@ -174,7 +176,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.7</version>
+        <version>3.1.0</version>
         <configuration>
           <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
         </configuration>
@@ -183,7 +185,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.18.1</version>
+        <version>2.22.0</version>
         <configuration>
           <includes><include>**/*Test.java</include></includes>
         </configuration>
@@ -192,7 +194,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.10.3</version>
+        <version>3.0.0-M1</version>
         <configuration>
           <quiet>true</quiet>
           <show>public</show>
@@ -217,7 +219,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
         <artifactId>cobertura-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.6</version>
+        <version>2.7</version>
         <configuration>
           <format>xml</format>
           <maxmem>256m</maxmem>
@@ -234,7 +236,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.sonatype.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>nexus-staging-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>1.6.6</version>
+        <version>1.6.8</version>
         <extensions>true</extensions>
         <inherited>false</inherited>
         <configuration>