Maven won't compile Java annotations?

Question

I'm having trouble getting maven to compile a project that uses Java annotations. I get the following error message:

annotations are not supported in -source 1.3 (use -source 5 or higher to enable annotations)
@PostConstruct

In my POM I have the following compiler plugin so for a start where is it getting -source 1.3 from?

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.2</version>
            <configuration>
                <source>1.6</source>
                <target>1.6</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

I suspect I am probably missing something very simple to get this working but googling the error doesn't bring up anything helpful

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Make sure that your <plugin> element is inside <build> section and not only in <pluginManagement> or <reporting> sections.