Maven build - java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: The argument does not represent an annotation type

When you run a Maven build and get this error

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:3.
0:compile (default-compile) on project celebrity-cda-web: Fatal error compiling:
 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: The argument does not represent an annotati
on type: XStreamImplicit -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]

In this case Maven cannot find the class XStreamImplicit

The problem is that a <dependency> which was earlier defined in the pom.xml has now been deleted or the Maven repository is not defined correctly for that dependency.


 

Installing multiple external jars into a local maven repository.

Suppose you have a variety of dependency jars you need to install into your local repository - Note: These arent artefacts produced by your build but external jars. Well, no shortcuts here. From a recent reply I gave on Stackoverflow - You'll have to do it via a script, the long and boring way. This is what we use - modifying the values in each of the `set` statements

    set GROUP_ID=someNamespace
    set ARTIFACT_ID=myartifact
    set VERSION=1
    set COMPONENT=%ARTIFACT_ID%-%VERSION%
    set FILEPATH=D:\my.jar
    
    call mvn install:install-file ^
     -DgroupId=%GROUP_ID% ^
     -DartifactId=%ARTIFACT_ID% ^
     -Dversion=%VERSION% ^
     -Dfile=%FILEPATH% ^
     -Dpackaging=jar ^
     -DgeneratePom=true
    
    set GROUP_ID=someNamespace2
    set ARTIFACT_ID=myartifact2
    set VERSION=1
    set COMPONENT=%ARTIFACT_ID%-%VERSION%
    set FILEPATH=D:\my2.jar
    
    call mvn install:install-file ^
     -DgroupId=%GROUP_ID% ^
     -DartifactId=%ARTIFACT_ID% ^
     -Dversion=%VERSION% ^
     -Dfile=%FILEPATH% ^
     -Dpackaging=jar ^
     -DgeneratePom=true

Running Maven offline using local Repository

Sometimes you see Maven downloading POM files for dependencies which are already in your local repository and you're wondering why it does this.

Downloading: http://repo1.maven.org/maven2//org/apache/xmlgraphics/fop/0.95/fop-
0.95.pom
Downloading: http://repo1.maven.org/maven2//org/apache/xmlgraphics/xmlgraphics-c
ommons/1.3.1/xmlgraphics-commons-1.3.1.pom
Downloading: http://repo1.maven.org/maven2//org/apache/xmlgraphics/batik-svg-dom
/1.7/batik-svg-dom-1.7.pom

The reason it does is because when these were installed in the local repository, it was not given a flag of -Dgenerate.pom=true

If you run the install with this flag, then it will generate and install a local POM file for you, and will not download the POM from the internet repository.

An example below

mvn install:install-file -DgroupId=%GROUP_ID% -DartifactId=%ARTIFACT_ID% -Dversion=%VERSION% -Dfile=%COMPONENT%.jar -Dpackaging=jar -DgeneratePom=true

There are 2 other ways to run the build without connecting to the internet or network repository each time - provided you have all the required dependencies available offline.

Note: This is just something I do when I want to run a quick repeat build and I know there are no dependencies updated in the mean time. If you do this regularly you will miss out on updates made to the maven repository by other developers.

1. Run the maven build in offline mode

mvn -o install

[INFO]
NOTE: Maven is executing in offline mode. Any artifacts not already in your loca
l
repository will be inaccessible.

...

When you see this message, you know that maven will not be updating external dependencies during the build.

2. Point the repository to the local file system.

On my local build, if running repeated code builds when I know there is no change in dependency, I have a profile set up to point the repository to a local file system.

In the repository definition, instead of
<url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/</url>

use the file:// path


<repository>
<id>central</id>
<url>file://D:\mavenrepo</url>
</repository>


You will still see the message indicating downloading of POM, but this time from the local file system.
And this will be much faster.

Downloading: file://D:\mavenrepo\cactus\1.7.2\cactus-1.7.2.pom
Downloading: file://D:\mavenrepo\strutstest\2.1.3\strutstest-2.1.3.pom

Executing multiple mvn commands from a Windows bat file

When running Maven, if you try to run multiple Maven commands in a batch (.bat) file, it only runs the first one and exits to the command prompt

mvn clean
mvn package

This occurs since mvn itself is a bat file. To overcome this, you need to stop Windows passing control to the mvn.bat script by using the call command for each call to mvn.

call mvn clean
call mvn package

Additionally, to catch failures you will need to do this

call mvn clean
echo Exit Code = %ERRORLEVEL%
if not "%ERRORLEVEL%" == "0" exit /b

call mvn package
echo Exit Code = %ERRORLEVEL%
if not "%ERRORLEVEL%" == "0" exit /b

A failure throws an ERRORLEVEL higher than 0. Otherwise it will keep moving ahead even if it fails. Note: if you're using maven 2.0.7 or older, there is a possibility that the mvn does not return an ERRORLEVEL > 0 for the process to exit. Lots of examples are available here http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=mvn+exit+ERRORLEVEL&meta= A simple test to check if your version allows this - run the commands below in a bat file.

call mvn unknown
echo Exit Code = %ERRORLEVEL%

You should get a Failure with exit code 1 as below. If it does not fail, then upgrade to a higher version of Maven in which the issue is fixed.

D:\maven-2.0.7\bin>call mvn unknown
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] ----------------
[ERROR] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ----------------
[INFO] Invalid task 'unknown': you must 

specify a valid lifecycle phase, 

or a goal in the format plugin:goal or  

pluginGroupId:pluginArtifactId:pluginVersion:goal

[INFO] ----------------
[INFO] For more information, run Maven 

with the -e switch
[INFO] ----------------
[INFO] Total time: < 1 second
[INFO] Finished at: Tue Mar 10 12:07:12 

GMT+05:30 2009
[INFO] Final Memory: 1M/2M
[INFO] ----------------
Exit Code = 1

Update Learnt the hard way that the call to mvn must immediately be followed by the checking of the ERRORLEVEL. Our build.bat script measures time taken for each step like below:

time /t
call mvn install
time /t
if not "%ERRORLEVEL%" == "0" exit /b

In this case, it loses the ERRORLEVEL value from the mvn command. Hence we need to ensure:

time /t
call mvn install
if not "%ERRORLEVEL%" == "0" exit /b
time /t