diff --git a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
index 2c99682a0..c28108ef0 100644
--- a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
+++ b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.8.1</version>
+                <version>3.9.0</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <debug>true</debug>
                     <target>17</target>
@@ -596,9 +596,32 @@
                         <exclude>**/generated/**</exclude>
                     </excludes>
                     <addLicenseHeaders>true</addLicenseHeaders>
+                    <copyrightMessage>Copyright (c) 2022 nosqlbench</copyrightMessage>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
 
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.0.0-M3</version>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>enforce-java</id>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>enforce</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <rules>
+                                <requireJavaVersion>
+                                    <version>[17,)</version>
+                                </requireJavaVersion>
+                            </rules>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
+
+
         </plugins>
 
         <pluginManagement>
diff --git a/scripts/accept_licenses.sh b/scripts/accept_licenses.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2800227b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/accept_licenses.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+find . -type f -name '*.java.new' | \
+while read newname
+do
+ original=${newname%%.new}
+ mv $newname $original
+ printf "moved %s to %s\n" "${newname}" "${original}"
+done