diff --git a/build/enforcer/src/main/java/org/hibernate/search/build/enforcer/AllLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule.java b/build/enforcer/src/main/java/org/hibernate/search/build/enforcer/AllLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c95ae4530f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/enforcer/src/main/java/org/hibernate/search/build/enforcer/AllLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * Copyright Red Hat Inc. and Hibernate Authors
+ */
+package org.hibernate.search.build.enforcer;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import javax.inject.Inject;
+import javax.inject.Named;
+
+import org.apache.maven.enforcer.rule.api.AbstractEnforcerRule;
+import org.apache.maven.enforcer.rule.api.EnforcerRuleException;
+import org.apache.maven.execution.MavenSession;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Dependency;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Plugin;
+import org.apache.maven.model.PluginExecution;
+import org.apache.maven.project.DefaultDependencyResolutionRequest;
+import org.apache.maven.project.DependencyResolutionException;
+import org.apache.maven.project.DependencyResolutionResult;
+import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
+import org.apache.maven.project.ProjectDependenciesResolver;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3Dom;
+import org.eclipse.aether.util.filter.AndDependencyFilter;
+import org.eclipse.aether.util.filter.ExclusionsDependencyFilter;
+import org.eclipse.aether.util.filter.ScopeDependencyFilter;
+
+@Named("allLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule") // rule name - must start with lowercase character
+public class AllLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule extends AbstractEnforcerRule {
+
+	private static final String DEPENDENCY_PLUGIN = "org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-dependency-plugin";
+	private static final String EXECUTION_COPY = "copy-dependencies-lucene-next";
+	private static final String LUCENE_NEXT_ARTIFACT_ID = "hibernate-search-backend-lucene-next";
+	// Inject needed Maven components
+	@Inject
+	private MavenSession session;
+
+	@Inject
+	private ProjectDependenciesResolver dependenciesResolver;
+
+	/**
+	 * Rule parameter as list of items.
+	 */
+	private Set<Dependency> dependenciesToSkip;
+
+	public void execute() throws EnforcerRuleException {
+		Plugin plugin = session.getCurrentProject().getPlugin( DEPENDENCY_PLUGIN );
+		if ( plugin == null ) {
+			throw new EnforcerRuleException( "Project %s:%s does not configure the Dependency plugin (%s)!"
+					.formatted( session.getCurrentProject().getGroupId(), session.getCurrentProject().getArtifactId(),
+							DEPENDENCY_PLUGIN
+					) );
+		}
+
+		PluginExecution execution = plugin.getExecutionsAsMap().get( EXECUTION_COPY );
+		if ( execution == null ) {
+			throw new EnforcerRuleException( "Project %s:%s does not configure the Dependency plugin (%s) execution \"%s\"!"
+					.formatted( session.getCurrentProject().getGroupId(), session.getCurrentProject().getArtifactId(),
+							DEPENDENCY_PLUGIN, EXECUTION_COPY
+					) );
+		}
+
+		if ( execution.getConfiguration() instanceof Xpp3Dom configuration ) {
+			Xpp3Dom artifactItems = configuration.getChild( "artifactItems" );
+			if ( artifactItems == null ) {
+				throw new EnforcerRuleException(
+						"Project %s:%s does not specify the Javadoc plugin (%s) execution \"%s\" sourcepath configuration attribute!"
+								.formatted( session.getCurrentProject().getGroupId(),
+										session.getCurrentProject().getArtifactId(),
+										DEPENDENCY_PLUGIN, EXECUTION_COPY
+								) );
+			}
+
+			MavenProject luceneNextProject = session.getAllProjects().stream()
+					.filter( p -> "jar".equals( p.getPackaging() ) && LUCENE_NEXT_ARTIFACT_ID.equals( p.getArtifactId() ) )
+					.findFirst()
+					.orElseThrow(
+							() -> new EnforcerRuleException( "%s is not available, cannot determine required dependencies."
+									.formatted( LUCENE_NEXT_ARTIFACT_ID ) ) );
+
+			List<org.eclipse.aether.graph.Dependency> dependencies = resolveDependencies( luceneNextProject );
+			List<Dependency> redundantDependencies = new ArrayList<>();
+
+
+			for ( Xpp3Dom artifact : artifactItems.getChildren() ) {
+				if ( !dependencies
+						.removeIf( dep -> dep.getArtifact().getGroupId().equals( artifact.getChild( "groupId" ).getValue() )
+								&& dep.getArtifact().getArtifactId().equals( artifact.getChild( "artifactId" ).getValue() )
+								&& dep.getArtifact().getVersion().equals( artifact.getChild( "version" ).getValue() ) ) ) {
+					Dependency dependency = new Dependency();
+					dependency.setGroupId( artifact.getChild( "groupId" ).getValue() );
+					dependency.setArtifactId( artifact.getChild( "artifactId" ).getValue() );
+					dependency.setVersion( artifact.getChild( "version" ).getValue() );
+					redundantDependencies.add( dependency );
+				}
+			}
+
+			if ( !dependencies.isEmpty() ) {
+				throw new EnforcerRuleException(
+						"Some Lucene next backend dependencies are missing: %s".formatted( dependencies ) );
+			}
+			if ( !redundantDependencies.isEmpty() ) {
+				throw new EnforcerRuleException(
+						"Some Lucene next backend dependencies are redundant: %s".formatted( redundantDependencies ) );
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	private List<org.eclipse.aether.graph.Dependency> resolveDependencies(MavenProject luceneNextProject) {
+		try {
+			DependencyResolutionResult result = dependenciesResolver
+					.resolve( new DefaultDependencyResolutionRequest( luceneNextProject, session.getRepositorySession() )
+							.setResolutionFilter(
+									new AndDependencyFilter(
+											// we skip test dependencies
+											new ScopeDependencyFilter( "test" ),
+											// and the ones we explicitly asked to skip:
+											new ExclusionsDependencyFilter( dependenciesToSkip.stream()
+													.map( d -> d.getGroupId() + ":" + d.getArtifactId() ).toList() )
+									) ) );
+			return result.getDependencies();
+		}
+		catch (DependencyResolutionException e) {
+			throw new RuntimeException( e );
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/distribution/pom.xml b/distribution/pom.xml
index 47370ffd092..c4f31efc815 100644
--- a/distribution/pom.xml
+++ b/distribution/pom.xml
@@ -152,6 +152,83 @@
 
     <build>
         <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
+                <executions>
+                    <!--
+                        The Maven assembly plugin will not "pull" the Lucene-next dependencies since
+                        per dependency management Lucene libs are resolved to `version.org.apache.lucene` (9.x).
+                        We copy the libs required by the Lucene next backend and include them "manually" instead.
+
+                        The enforcer plugin checks that this list matches what we have in the backend itself.
+                     -->
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>copy-dependencies-lucene-next</id>
+                        <phase>generate-sources</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>copy</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <artifactItems>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-core</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-analysis-common</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-queryparser</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-queries</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-sandbox</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-join</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-facet</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-highlighter</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>lucene-memory</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.org.apache.lucene.next}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                                <artifactItem>
+                                    <groupId>com.carrotsearch</groupId>
+                                    <artifactId>hppc</artifactId>
+                                    <version>${version.com.carrotsearch.hppc}</version>
+                                </artifactItem>
+                            </artifactItems>
+                            <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/dependencies-lucene-next</outputDirectory>
+                            <overWriteReleases>false</overWriteReleases>
+                            <overWriteSnapshots>true</overWriteSnapshots>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -238,10 +315,37 @@
                                     <pathsToSkip>
                                         <path>v5migrationhelper/engine/src/main/java</path>
                                         <path>v5migrationhelper/orm/src/main/java</path>
+                                        <path>lucene-next/backend/lucene/src/main/java</path>
                                         <path>v5migrationhelper/orm/target/generated-sources/annotations</path>
                                         <path>v5migrationhelper/engine/target/generated-sources/annotations</path>
+                                        <path>lucene-next/backend/lucene/target/generated-sources/annotations</path>
                                     </pathsToSkip>
                                 </javadocSourcePathIncludesAllPublicArtifactsRule>
+                                <allLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule>
+                                    <!-- We skip these dependencies as they are already added to the distribution through other entries: -->
+                                    <dependenciesToSkip>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <groupId>org.jboss.logging</groupId>
+                                            <artifactId>jboss-logging</artifactId>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <groupId>org.jboss.logging</groupId>
+                                            <artifactId>jboss-logging-annotations</artifactId>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <groupId>org.hibernate.search</groupId>
+                                            <artifactId>hibernate-search-engine</artifactId>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <groupId>org.hibernate.search</groupId>
+                                            <artifactId>hibernate-search-util-common</artifactId>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <groupId>io.smallrye</groupId>
+                                            <artifactId>jandex</artifactId>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                    </dependenciesToSkip>
+                                </allLuceneNextDependenciesCopiedRule>
                             </rules>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
diff --git a/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml b/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
index 5f8e678bb44..b682616476c 100644
--- a/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
+++ b/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 	SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 	Copyright Red Hat Inc. and Hibernate Authors
 -->
-<assembly>
+<assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/ASSEMBLY/2.2.0"
+		xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+		xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/ASSEMBLY/2.2.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-2.2.0.xsd">
 	<id>dist</id>
 	<formats>
 		<format>tar.gz</format>
@@ -180,6 +182,11 @@
 	</files>
 
 	<fileSets>
+		<fileSet>
+			<!-- Lucene "next" dependencies -->
+			<directory>target/dependencies-lucene-next</directory>
+			<outputDirectory>dist/backend/lucene-next</outputDirectory>
+		</fileSet>
 		<!-- Include all sources -->
 		<fileSet>
 			<directory>..</directory>