Disable publish of subprojects - sbt

Question

currently I have a sbt multi project with one main project.
The other projects are just aggregate's or a scalaJS project so my project definition is somewhat like that:
lazy val auth = project
lazy val utils = project
lazy val client = project
lazy val main = project
.dependsOn(utils).aggregate(utils)
.dependsOn(auth).aggregate(auth)
.aggregate(clients.map(projectToRef): _*)
However on publishing I get that:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Repository for publishing is not specified.
at scala.sys.package$.error(package.scala:27)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:120)
at sbt.Classpaths$.getPublishTo(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at scala.Function1$$anonfun$compose$1.apply(Function1.scala:47)
at sbt.$tilde$greater$$anonfun$$u2219$1.apply(TypeFunctions.scala:40)
at sbt.std.Transform$$anon$4.work(System.scala:63)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ErrorHandling$.wideConvert(ErrorHandling.scala:17)
at sbt.Execute.work(Execute.scala:235)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ConcurrentRestrictions$$anon$4$$anonfun$1.apply(ConcurrentRestrictions.scala:159)
at sbt.CompletionService$$anon$2.call(CompletionService.scala:28)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
java.lang.RuntimeException: Repository for publishing is not specified.
at scala.sys.package$.error(package.scala:27)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:120)
at sbt.Classpaths$.getPublishTo(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at scala.Function1$$anonfun$compose$1.apply(Function1.scala:47)
at sbt.$tilde$greater$$anonfun$$u2219$1.apply(TypeFunctions.scala:40)
at sbt.std.Transform$$anon$4.work(System.scala:63)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ErrorHandling$.wideConvert(ErrorHandling.scala:17)
at sbt.Execute.work(Execute.scala:235)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ConcurrentRestrictions$$anon$4$$anonfun$1.apply(ConcurrentRestrictions.scala:159)
at sbt.CompletionService$$anon$2.call(CompletionService.scala:28)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
java.lang.RuntimeException: Repository for publishing is not specified.
at scala.sys.package$.error(package.scala:27)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$getPublishTo$1.apply(Defaults.scala:1470)
at scala.Option.getOrElse(Option.scala:120)
at sbt.Classpaths$.getPublishTo(Defaults.scala:1470)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at sbt.Classpaths$$anonfun$59.apply(Defaults.scala:1150)
at scala.Function1$$anonfun$compose$1.apply(Function1.scala:47)
at sbt.$tilde$greater$$anonfun$$u2219$1.apply(TypeFunctions.scala:40)
at sbt.std.Transform$$anon$4.work(System.scala:63)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1$$anonfun$apply$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ErrorHandling$.wideConvert(ErrorHandling.scala:17)
at sbt.Execute.work(Execute.scala:235)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.Execute$$anonfun$submit$1.apply(Execute.scala:226)
at sbt.ConcurrentRestrictions$$anon$4$$anonfun$1.apply(ConcurrentRestrictions.scala:159)
at sbt.CompletionService$$anon$2.call(CompletionService.scala:28)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
[error] (client/*:publishConfiguration) Repository for publishing is not specified.
[error] (auth/*:publishConfiguration) Repository for publishing is not specified.
[error] (utils/*:publishConfiguration) Repository for publishing is not specified.
Currently my main project gets uploaded sucessful however I get a exit code 1 which is bad for my CI server.
Is there a way to disable it for these subprojects?
Edit: Also I use sbt-native-packager for publishing i.e.:
makeDeploymentSettings(Universal, packageBin in Universal, "tgz")
And the command I'm using
sbt universal:publish

Answer 1

You have to provide the publishTo setting for all your modules.
This may be achieved by having a common object with all your settings, including publishTo. These settings can then be imported to build.sbt in all your modules.
So you can have a file, say Common.scala, which looks like this:
object Common {
val settings: Seq[Setting[_]] = Seq(
scalaVersion := "Your Scala version",
publishTo <<= Some("your repo" at "http://yourserver.com")
)
val nonPublishSettings = settings ++ Seq(
publish := { }
)
}
Now modify your build.sbt like this:
Common.settings
lazy val auth = project
lazy val utils = project.settings(Common.nonPublishSettings) // This module will not be published. All others will be.
lazy val client = project
lazy val main = project
.dependsOn(utils).aggregate(utils)
.dependsOn(auth).aggregate(auth)
.aggregate(clients.map(projectToRef): _*)
Thus, the solution to your problem is to explicitly tell sbt which modules to publish and where.

Answer 2

This looks like a configuration error. The main project aggregates all other projects, which means every command you execute on the main project will be executed on the projects listed in aggregate function.
I assume that you specified a repository with
publishTo := Some("your repo" at "http://yourcompany.com")
which is only set on your main project. So, when you run universal:publish all sub projects get published as well.
Here is another Stackoverflow question on how to disable publish on single projects.