diff --git a/dev/create-release/release-build.sh b/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
index 9dac43ce54425de3d9581735b6562f88f75afbe0..cb79e9eba06e2351c3ce1ffff38959950d0a70cb 100755
--- a/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
+++ b/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ GIT_REF=${GIT_REF:-master}
 # Destination directory parent on remote server
 REMOTE_PARENT_DIR=${REMOTE_PARENT_DIR:-/home/$ASF_USERNAME/public_html}
 
-SSH="ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i $ASF_RSA_KEY"
+SSH="ssh -o ConnectTimeout=300 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i $ASF_RSA_KEY"
 GPG="gpg --no-tty --batch"
 NEXUS_ROOT=https://repository.apache.org/service/local/staging
 NEXUS_PROFILE=d63f592e7eac0 # Profile for Spark staging uploads
@@ -141,8 +141,12 @@ if [[ "$1" == "package" ]]; then
 
     export ZINC_PORT=$ZINC_PORT
     echo "Creating distribution: $NAME ($FLAGS)"
-    ./make-distribution.sh --name $NAME --tgz $FLAGS -DzincPort=$ZINC_PORT 2>&1 > \
-      ../binary-release-$NAME.log
+
+    # Get maven home set by MVN
+    MVN_HOME=`$MVN -version 2>&1 | grep 'Maven home' | awk '{print $NF}'`
+
+    ./make-distribution.sh --name $NAME --mvn $MVN_HOME/bin/mvn --tgz $FLAGS \
+      -DzincPort=$ZINC_PORT 2>&1 >  ../binary-release-$NAME.log
     cd ..
     cp spark-$SPARK_VERSION-bin-$NAME/spark-$SPARK_VERSION-bin-$NAME.tgz .