diff --git a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ConvertResolver.scala b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ConvertResolver.scala
index 70a0530e1..35cfb669f 100644
--- a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ConvertResolver.scala
+++ b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ConvertResolver.scala
@@ -9,12 +9,13 @@ import org.apache.ivy.core.module.id.ModuleRevisionId
 import org.apache.ivy.core.module.descriptor.DependencyDescriptor
 import org.apache.ivy.core.resolve.ResolveData
 import org.apache.ivy.core.settings.IvySettings
+import org.apache.ivy.plugins.repository.{ RepositoryCopyProgressListener, TransferEvent }
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.resolver.{ BasicResolver, DependencyResolver, IBiblioResolver, RepositoryResolver }
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.resolver.{ AbstractPatternsBasedResolver, AbstractSshBasedResolver, FileSystemResolver, SFTPResolver, SshResolver, URLResolver }
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.repository.url.{ URLRepository => URLRepo }
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.repository.file.{ FileRepository => FileRepo, FileResource }
-import java.io.File
-import org.apache.ivy.util.ChecksumHelper
+import java.io.{ IOException, File }
+import org.apache.ivy.util.{ FileUtil, ChecksumHelper }
 import org.apache.ivy.core.module.descriptor.{ Artifact => IArtifact }
 
 private[sbt] object ConvertResolver {
@@ -216,6 +217,7 @@ private[sbt] object ConvertResolver {
    */
   private[this] final class LocalIfFileRepo extends URLRepo {
     private[this] val repo = new WarnOnOverwriteFileRepo()
+    private[this] val progress = new RepositoryCopyProgressListener(this);
     override def getResource(source: String) = {
       val url = new URL(source)
       if (url.getProtocol == IO.FileScheme)
@@ -223,6 +225,35 @@ private[sbt] object ConvertResolver {
       else
         super.getResource(source)
     }
+
+    override def put(source: File, destination: String, overwrite: Boolean): Unit = {
+      val url = new URL(destination)
+      if (url.getProtocol != IO.FileScheme) super.put(source, destination, overwrite)
+      else {
+        // Here we duplicate the put method for files so we don't just bail on trying ot use Http handler
+        val resource = getResource(destination)
+        if (!overwrite && resource.exists()) {
+          throw new IOException("destination file exists and overwrite == false");
+        }
+        fireTransferInitiated(resource, TransferEvent.REQUEST_PUT);
+        try {
+          var totalLength = source.length
+          if (totalLength > 0) {
+            progress.setTotalLength(totalLength);
+          }
+          FileUtil.copy(source, new java.io.File(url.toURI), progress)
+        } catch {
+          case ex: IOException =>
+            fireTransferError(ex)
+            throw ex
+          case ex: RuntimeException =>
+            fireTransferError(ex)
+            throw ex
+        } finally {
+          progress.setTotalLength(null);
+        }
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   private[this] final class WarnOnOverwriteFileRepo extends FileRepo() {
diff --git a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/CustomPomParser.scala b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/CustomPomParser.scala
index 7bc878b2b..202216700 100644
--- a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/CustomPomParser.scala
+++ b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/CustomPomParser.scala
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ object CustomPomParser {
   lazy val registerDefault: Unit = ModuleDescriptorParserRegistry.getInstance.addParser(default)
 
   def defaultTransform(parser: ModuleDescriptorParser, md: ModuleDescriptor): ModuleDescriptor =
-    if (transformedByThisVersion(md)) md else defaultTransformImpl(parser, md)
+    if (transformedByThisVersion(md)) md
+    else defaultTransformImpl(parser, md)
 
   private[this] def transformedByThisVersion(md: ModuleDescriptor): Boolean =
     {
diff --git a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ivyint/SbtChainResolver.scala b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ivyint/SbtChainResolver.scala
index 685431124..f7dad987d 100644
--- a/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ivyint/SbtChainResolver.scala
+++ b/ivy/src/main/scala/sbt/ivyint/SbtChainResolver.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import java.util.Date
 
 import org.apache.ivy.core.settings.IvySettings
 import org.apache.ivy.core.{ IvyContext, LogOptions }
-import org.apache.ivy.core.module.descriptor.{ ModuleDescriptor, DependencyDescriptor, Artifact => IArtifact }
+import org.apache.ivy.core.module.descriptor.{ Artifact => IArtifact, DefaultModuleDescriptor, DefaultDependencyDescriptor, ModuleDescriptor, DependencyDescriptor }
 import org.apache.ivy.core.resolve.{ ResolvedModuleRevision, ResolveData }
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.latest.LatestStrategy
 import org.apache.ivy.plugins.repository.file.{ FileRepository => IFileRepository, FileResource }
@@ -94,6 +94,26 @@ class SbtChainResolver(name: String, resolvers: Seq[DependencyResolver], setting
               }
               else temp map { x => (forcedRevision(x), resolver) }
             )
+            retval match {
+              case Right(Some((rmr, _))) =>
+                rmr.getDescriptor.getPublicationDate match {
+                  case null =>
+                    (resolver.findIvyFileRef(dd, data), rmr.getDescriptor) match {
+                      case (null, _) =>
+                        // In this instance, the dependency is specified by a direct URL or some other sort of "non-ivy" file
+                        if (dd.isChanging)
+                          Message.warn(s"Resolving a changing dependency (${rmr.getId}) with no ivy/pom file!, resolution order is undefined!")
+                      case (ivf, dmd: DefaultModuleDescriptor) =>
+                        val lmd = new java.util.Date(ivf.getLastModified)
+                        Message.info(s"Getting null publication date from resolver: ${resolver} for ${rmr.getId}, setting to: ${lmd}")
+                        dmd.setPublicationDate(lmd)
+                      case _ =>
+                        Message.warn(s"Getting null publication date from resolver: ${resolver} for ${rmr.getId}, resolution order is undefined!")
+                    }
+                  case _ => // All other cases ok
+                }
+              case _ =>
+            }
             retval
           } catch {
             case ex: Exception =>
@@ -111,7 +131,10 @@ class SbtChainResolver(name: String, resolvers: Seq[DependencyResolver], setting
       val sorted =
         if (useLatest) (foundRevisions.sortBy {
           case (rmr, _) =>
-            rmr.getDescriptor.getPublicationDate.getTime
+            rmr.getDescriptor.getPublicationDate match {
+              case null => 0L
+              case d    => d.getTime
+            }
         }).reverse.headOption map {
           case (rmr, resolver) =>
             // Now that we know the real latest revision, let's force Ivy to use it
diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Act.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Act.scala
index 272f7e074..f0aa68dd4 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Act.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Act.scala
@@ -163,8 +163,8 @@ object Act {
     }
   def resolveTask(task: ParsedAxis[AttributeKey[_]]): Option[AttributeKey[_]] =
     task match {
-      case ParsedGlobal | Omitted                    => None
-      case t: ParsedValue[AttributeKey[_]]@unchecked => Some(t.value)
+      case ParsedGlobal | Omitted                     => None
+      case t: ParsedValue[AttributeKey[_]] @unchecked => Some(t.value)
     }
 
   def filterStrings(base: Parser[String], valid: Set[String], label: String): Parser[String] =
diff --git a/notes/0.13.7/maven-null-publish-date.md b/notes/0.13.7/maven-null-publish-date.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b06d213eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notes/0.13.7/maven-null-publish-date.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+  [1618]: https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/1618
+  [1611]: Https://github.com/sbt/sbt/issues/1611
+  [@jsuereth]: https://github.com/jsuereth
+  
+  
+### Improvements
+
+* You can now publish to maven repositories that are `file` URLs.
+
+### Fixes 
+
+* When resolving from maven, and unable to read maven-metadata.xml file (common given the divergence in
+  Maven 3 and Ivy 2), we attempt to use LastModified timestamp in lieu of "published" timestamp.  
+  [#1618][1618] by [@jsuereth][@jsuereth]
+* NPE exception when using ChainResolver and maven repositories [#1611]/[1611] by [@jsuereth][@jsuereth]
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/build.sbt b/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/build.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..06c06a9dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/build.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+
+
+lazy val localRemote =
+  MavenRepository("remote-repo", "file:///tmp/remote-repo")
+
+lazy val common =
+  project
+    .settings(
+      name := "config",
+      organization := "com.typesafe",
+      version := "0.4.9-SNAPSHOT",
+      publishTo := Some(localRemote),
+      autoScalaLibrary := false,
+      crossPaths := false
+    )
+
+lazy val analyze =
+  project
+    .dependsOn(common)
+    .settings(
+      name := "bad-dependency",
+      organization := "com.example",
+      version := "1.0.0-SNAPSHOT",
+      resolvers += localRemote,
+      resolvers += Resolver.mavenLocal,
+      resolvers += Resolver.sonatypeRepo("snapshots"),
+      fullResolvers := fullResolvers.value.filterNot(_.name == "inter-project")
+    )
+
+
+
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/test b/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/test
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..46f62f6f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/dependency-management/publish-to-maven-local-file/test
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+> common/publishM2
+> common/publish
+> analyze/update
\ No newline at end of file