oleg_nenashev was the first to be confused by the version scheme for the BOM, which partially but not completely matches Jenkins core versions.

A cheap fix would be to version the BOM like 2.176.100, 2.176.101, etc., so that it is obviously not the same.

A more complicated change would be to drop the current branch/merge scheme, doing everything in master, and have a separate artifactId for each line as a reactor module, so you might import something like io.jenkins.tools.bom:bom-2.176.x:3. This would likely also work better with Dependabot, but involves a number of challenges:

• Figuring out how to minimize the number of places where plugin versions are specified. Perhaps the latest BOM could specify all the versions and then BOMs for older lines could import it and override a few versions, assuming that works for importers (it should, given flattening).
• Adjusting the PCT runs to handle different lines. Should just be a technical refactoring.
• Avoid maintaining multiple copies of the sample plugin, while testing it against each line. Perhaps it could default to the latest line but select an older line to use based on a POM profile.