based on this commit:
https://github.com/forge/furnace/commit/4f61059ec#diff-26746e3d55fa029ec55c29109d3fcce1R265

I set that system property. When creating a new project from an archetype, I see the download message. However forge is downloading about 1000 files (poms, jars, sha1's) on initialisation of the Farbic8SetupStep command - before this line:
https://github.com/jstrachan/fabric8/blob/8383c92243181271bc773c1bcd1c45eb3d820a05/forge/addons/devops/src/main/java/io/fabric8/forge/devops/setup/Fabric8SetupStep.java#L148-L148

I guess its part of the general forge command resolving the pom dependencies for the project. I just hoped we could start logging the things it downloads (to help folks diagnose issues if things don't use a http proxy or don't properly use a maven proxy etc).

I'm also hoping to be able to specify a maven mirror for forge to use...