diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ef2c61b..b113d5d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -222,8 +222,8 @@
 					<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 					<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
 					<configuration>
-						<target>${java_version}</target>
-						<source>${java_version}</source>
+						<target>${maven.compiler.target}</target>
+						<source>${maven.compiler.source}</source>
 					</configuration>
 				</plugin>
 			</plugins>
@@ -301,6 +301,9 @@
 		<distroDirectory>distro</distroDirectory>
 
 		<java_version>1.8</java_version>
+		<maven.compiler.source>${java_version}</maven.compiler.source>
+		<maven.compiler.target>${java_version}</maven.compiler.target>
+
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
 		<maven.version>3.0.0</maven.version>
 		<snapshots.repository.url.deploy>http://maven.research-infrastructures.eu:8081/nexus/content/repositories/gcube-snapshots</snapshots.repository.url.deploy>