diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/plugin/PluginBuildPlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/plugin/PluginBuildPlugin.groovy
index 71488856a9021..efe8662cf7414 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/plugin/PluginBuildPlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/plugin/PluginBuildPlugin.groovy
@@ -75,10 +75,10 @@ public class PluginBuildPlugin extends BuildPlugin {
                 // and generate a different pom for the zip
                 addClientJarPomGeneration(project)
                 addClientJarTask(project)
-            } else {
-                // no client plugin, so use the pom file from nebula, without jar, for the zip
-                project.ext.set("nebulaPublish.maven.jar", false)
             }
+            // while the jar isn't normally published, we still at least build a pom of deps
+            // in case it is published, for instance when other plugins extend this plugin
+            configureJarPom(project)
 
             project.integTestCluster.dependsOn(project.bundlePlugin)
             project.tasks.run.dependsOn(project.bundlePlugin)
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@ public class PluginBuildPlugin extends BuildPlugin {
             }
 
             if (isModule == false || isXPackModule) {
-                addZipPomGeneration(project)
                 addNoticeGeneration(project)
             }
 
@@ -237,36 +236,15 @@ public class PluginBuildPlugin extends BuildPlugin {
         }
     }
 
-    /** Adds a task to generate a pom file for the zip distribution. */
-    public static void addZipPomGeneration(Project project) {
+    /** Configure the pom for the main jar of this plugin */
+    protected static void configureJarPom(Project project) {
         project.plugins.apply(ScmInfoPlugin.class)
         project.plugins.apply(MavenPublishPlugin.class)
 
         project.publishing {
             publications {
-                zip(MavenPublication) {
-                    artifact project.bundlePlugin
-                }
-                /* HUGE HACK: the underlying maven publication library refuses to deploy any attached artifacts
-                 * when the packaging type is set to 'pom'. But Sonatype's OSS repositories require source files
-                 * for artifacts that are of type 'zip'. We already publish the source and javadoc for Elasticsearch
-                 * under the various other subprojects. So here we create another publication using the same
-                 * name that has the "real" pom, and rely on the fact that gradle will execute the publish tasks
-                 * in alphabetical order. This lets us publish the zip file and even though the pom says the
-                 * type is 'pom' instead of 'zip'. We cannot setup a dependency between the tasks because the
-                 * publishing tasks are created *extremely* late in the configuration phase, so that we cannot get
-                 * ahold of the actual task. Furthermore, this entire hack only exists so we can make publishing to
-                 * maven local work, since we publish to maven central externally. */
-                zipReal(MavenPublication) {
-                    artifactId = project.pluginProperties.extension.name
-                    pom.withXml { XmlProvider xml ->
-                        Node root = xml.asNode()
-                        root.appendNode('name', project.pluginProperties.extension.name)
-                        root.appendNode('description', project.pluginProperties.extension.description)
-                        root.appendNode('url', urlFromOrigin(project.scminfo.origin))
-                        Node scmNode = root.appendNode('scm')
-                        scmNode.appendNode('url', project.scminfo.origin)
-                    }
+                nebula(MavenPublication) {
+                    artifactId project.pluginProperties.extension.name
                 }
             }
         }