pluginRemover.xsl

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
                xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:maven="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0">
    <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="no" indent="yes"/>
    <xsl:strip-space elements="*" />

    <!-- Identity template, copies every element in source file -->
    <xsl:template match="node() | @*">
        <xsl:copy>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="node() | @*" />
        </xsl:copy>
    </xsl:template>

    <!-- Match plugin-elements and discard them by doing nothing -->
    <xsl:template match="maven:build/maven:plugins/maven:plugin/[maven:artifactId = 'maven-release-plugin']" />
</xsl:stylesheet>