Maven build failed: “Unable to locate the Javac Compiler in: jre or jdk issue”

Question

I have my JAVA_HOME set to:

C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jdk1.6.0_18

After I run maven ins

Answer 1

As mentioned by several others, the Eclipse Window → Preferences... → Java → Installed JREs should point to the JDK you installed, not to the JRE. Only then it can find the ../lib folder mentioned in the error message.

Even with this, the problem may recur. My way out in Eclipse v4.2 (Juno) is to do a menu Maven → Update project... after which the problem disappears.

I suspect the reason is that some of the Eclipse generated files (.classpath, .project, .preferences) are in Subversion for the project in which I'm having these problems. Thus, an SVN update introduces the problem, and an configuration update from Maven in Eclipse resolves it again.

Real solution: omit Eclipse generated .files from version control, and let the Maven Eclipse plugin handle project configuration. (Additional pointers/suggestions are welcome).