If a user wants to use a database other than MySql, quite a few properties in the pom.xml need to be changed. In certain cases, e.g. MS SQL, changes also need to be made to other areas of the pom - the dbunit process also needs to change. By including a set of database specific profiles, we could cut down on the number of changes that users need to make to the poms to switch databases.

One disadvantage, of course, is that the pom could become rather lengthy.