diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f13094cf6..06cc7be6d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
     <artifactId>commons-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>23</version>
+    <version>25</version>
   </parent>
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
@@ -526,29 +526,6 @@
 
   <reporting>
     <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-        <artifactId>maven-changes-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.6</version>
-        <configuration>
-          <xmlPath>${basedir}/src/site/changes/changes.xml</xmlPath>
-          <issueLinkTemplatePerSystem>
-            <default>%URL%/%ISSUE%</default>
-          </issueLinkTemplatePerSystem>
-          <template>release-notes.vm</template>
-          <templateDirectory>templates</templateDirectory>
-          <!-- Give the output file its proper name -->
-          <outputDirectory>.</outputDirectory>
-          <announcementFile>RELEASE-NOTES.txt</announcementFile>
-        </configuration>
-        <reportSets>
-          <reportSet>
-            <reports>
-              <report>changes-report</report>
-            </reports>
-          </reportSet>
-        </reportSets>
-      </plugin>
       <plugin>
         <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>2.9.1</version>
diff --git a/src/site/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from src/site/changes/changes.xml
rename to src/changes/changes.xml
diff --git a/src/changes/release-notes.vm b/src/changes/release-notes.vm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6137b081d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/changes/release-notes.vm
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+## Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+## or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+## distributed with this work for additional information
+## regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+## to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+## "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+## with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+##
+##  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+##
+## Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+## software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+## "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+## KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+## specific language governing permissions and limitations
+## under the License.
+              Apache ${project.name} ${version} RELEASE NOTES
+
+$introduction.replaceAll("(?<!\015)\012", "
+")
+
+## N.B. the available variables are described here:
+## http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-changes-plugin/examples/using-a-custom-announcement-template.html
+## Hack to improve layout: replace all pairs of spaces with a single new-line
+$release.description.replaceAll("  ", "
+")
+
+## Fix up indentation for multi-line action descriptions
+#macro ( indent )
+#set($action=$action.replaceAll("(?m)^  +","                 "))
+#end
+#if ($release.getActions().size() == 0)
+No changes defined in this version.
+#else
+Changes in this version include:
+
+#if ($release.getActions('add').size() !=0)
+New features:
+#foreach($actionItem in $release.getActions('add'))
+## Use replaceAll to fix up LF-only line ends on Windows.
+#set($action=$actionItem.getAction().replaceAll("\n","
+"))
+#indent()
+#if ($actionItem.getIssue())
+#set($issue=$actionItem.getIssue())
+#else
+#set($issue="")
+#end
+#if ($actionItem.getDueTo())
+#set($dueto=$actionItem.getDueTo())
+#else
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+o#if($!issue != "") $issue: #end ${action} #if($!dueto != "")Thanks to $dueto. #end
+
+#set($issue="")
+#set($dueto="")
+#end 
+#end
+
+#if ($release.getActions('fix').size() !=0)
+Fixed Bugs:
+#foreach($actionItem in $release.getActions('fix'))
+## Use replaceAll to fix up LF-only line ends on Windows.
+#set($action=$actionItem.getAction().replaceAll("\n","
+"))
+#indent()
+#if ($actionItem.getIssue())
+#set($issue=$actionItem.getIssue())
+#else
+#set($issue="")
+#end
+#if ($actionItem.getDueTo())
+#set($dueto=$actionItem.getDueTo())
+#else
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+o#if($!issue != "") $issue: #end ${action} #if($!dueto != "")Thanks to $dueto. #end
+
+#set($issue="")
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+#end
+
+#if ($release.getActions('update').size() !=0)
+Changes:
+#foreach($actionItem in $release.getActions('update'))
+## Use replaceAll to fix up LF-only line ends on Windows.
+#set($action=$actionItem.getAction().replaceAll("\n","
+"))
+#indent()
+#if ($actionItem.getIssue())
+#set($issue=$actionItem.getIssue())
+#else
+#set($issue="")
+#end
+#if ($actionItem.getDueTo())
+#set($dueto=$actionItem.getDueTo())
+#else
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+o#if($!issue != "") $issue: #end ${action} #if($!dueto != "")Thanks to $dueto. #end
+
+#set($issue="")
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+#end
+
+#if ($release.getActions('remove').size() !=0)
+Removed:
+#foreach($actionItem in $release.getActions('remove'))
+## Use replaceAll to fix up LF-only line ends on Windows.
+#set($action=$actionItem.getAction().replaceAll("\n","
+"))
+#indent()
+#if ($actionItem.getIssue())
+#set($issue=$actionItem.getIssue())
+#else
+#set($issue="")
+#end
+#if ($actionItem.getDueTo())
+#set($dueto=$actionItem.getDueTo())
+#else
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+o#if($!issue != "") $issue. #end ${action} #if($!dueto != "")Thanks to $dueto. #end
+
+#set($issue="")
+#set($dueto="")
+#end
+#end
+## End of main loop
+#end
+ 
+For complete information on ${project.name}, including instructions on how to submit bug reports,
+patches, or suggestions for improvement, see the Apache ${project.name} website:
+
+${project.url}