Maven compiler error

Question

Hello I've got a project that builds from my computer just fine, I however encountered this issue in the other environment (server) :

-----------------------------------------------------
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Internal error in the plugin manager executing goal 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile': Unable to load the mojo 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile' in the plugin 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin'. A required class is missing: org/codehaus/plexus/compiler/manager/NoSuchCompilerException
org.codehaus.plexus.compiler.manager.NoSuchCompilerException
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] For more information, run Maven with the -e switch
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 58 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Tue Dec 18 09:45:20 CST 2012
[INFO] Final Memory: 32M/490M

This has to do something with maven complier plugin I assume, what could one do in this case?

Per Behe suggestion executed with -e :

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Internal error in the plugin manager executing goal 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile': Unable to load the mojo 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile' in the plugin 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin'. A required class is missing: org/codehaus/plexus/compiler/manager/NoSuchCompilerException
org.codehaus.plexus.compiler.manager.NoSuchCompilerException
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Internal error in the plugin manager executing goal 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile': Unable to load the mojo 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile' in the plugin 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin'. A required class is missing: org/codehaus/plexus/compiler/manager/NoSuchCompilerException
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:698)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalWithLifecycle(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:556)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:535)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:348)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)
        at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:138)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)
        at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:60)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginManagerException: Unable to load the mojo 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile' in the plugin 'org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin'. A required class is missing: org/codehaus/plexus/compiler/manager/NoSuchCompilerException
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.getConfiguredMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:669)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:468)
        at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)
        ... 17 more
Caused by: org.codehaus.plexus.component.repository.exception.ComponentLookupException: Unable to lookup component 'org.apache.maven.plugin.Mojoorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile', it could not be created
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.lookup(DefaultPlexusContainer.java:335)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.lookup(DefaultPlexusContainer.java:440)
        at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.getConfiguredMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:652)
        ... 19 more
Caused by: org.codehaus.plexus.component.factory.ComponentInstantiationException: Could not instanciate component: role: 'null', implementation: 'org.apache.maven.plugin.CompilerMojo'
        at org.codehaus.plexus.component.factory.java.JavaComponentFactory.makeException(JavaComponentFactory.java:77)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.component.factory.java.JavaComponentFactory.newInstance(JavaComponentFactory.java:62)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.createComponentInstance(DefaultPlexusContainer.java:1464)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.component.manager.AbstractComponentManager.createComponentInstance(AbstractComponentManager.java:93)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.component.manager.PerLookupComponentManager.getComponent(PerLookupComponentManager.java:48)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.DefaultPlexusContainer.lookup(DefaultPlexusContainer.java:331)
        ... 21 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/codehaus/plexus/compiler/manager/NoSuchCompilerException
        at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
        at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:2389)
        at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:2699)
        at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:326)
        at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:308)
        at org.codehaus.plexus.component.factory.java.JavaComponentFactory.newInstance(JavaComponentFactory.java:44)
        ... 25 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.codehaus.plexus.compiler.manager.NoSuchCompilerException
        at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:200)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:303)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.RealmClassLoader.loadClassDirect(RealmClassLoader.java:195)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.DefaultClassRealm.loadClass(DefaultClassRealm.java:255)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.DefaultClassRealm.loadClass(DefaultClassRealm.java:274)
        at org.codehaus.classworlds.RealmClassLoader.loadClass(RealmClassLoader.java:214)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:316)
        ... 31 more

Answer 1

I would suggest to run

mvn -v

to find out if you are using different Maven versions on the two machines.

In parallel I would suggest to upgrade to a newer version of the compiler plugin. 2.0.2 is VERY old. At least upgrade to 2.3.2 or even 2.5.1 if not the latest 3.0.

In addition I would specify source and target to the language level (e.g. Java 7 below) you need so you would end up with something like this

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.0</version>
  <configuration>
    <source>1.7</source>
    <target>1.7</target>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

That should either fix it or at least give you more info into what to look at next.