Maven error : Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher [duplicate]

Question

I'd been stuck with this simple issue for an hour now. Maven was working fine last week, I don't know what went wrong it gives me this error. I tried all the ways to debug and all the solutions found in StackOverflow and many other places. I even tried replacing M2_HOME path with M3_HOME and MAVEN_HOME. Nothing worked. I'm on OS X. Below is the output of few maven commands. I'll be happy to provide more information

$ mvn
Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher

$ which mvn
/Library/Maven-3.3.3/bin/mvn

$ echo $M2_HOME
/Library/Maven-3.3.3

$ echo $JAVA_HOME
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_75.jdk/Contents/Home

$ which java
/usr/bin/java

$ /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_75.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java -version
java version "1.7.0_75"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_75-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.75-b04, mixed mode)

$ echo $PATH
/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/Tomcat/bin:/Library/Maven-3.3.3/bin

$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_75"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_75-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.75-b04, mixed mode)

$  ls -lR /Library/Maven-3.3.3
total 56
-rw-r--r--@  1 USERNAME  wheel  19091 Apr 22 04:58 LICENSE
-rw-r--r--@  1 USERNAME  wheel    182 Apr 22 04:58 NOTICE
-rw-r--r--@  1 USERNAME  wheel   2541 Apr 22 04:55 README.txt
drwxr-xr-x@  8 USERNAME  wheel    272 Oct 14 12:24 bin
drwxr-xr-x@  3 USERNAME  wheel    102 Oct 14 12:24 boot
drwxr-xr-x@  5 USERNAME  wheel    170 Apr 22 04:55 conf
drwxr-xr-x@ 75 USERNAME  wheel   2550 Oct 14 12:24 lib

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/bin:
total 64
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   230 Apr 22 04:58 m2.conf
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  7075 Apr 22 04:58 mvn
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  6007 Apr 22 04:58 mvn.cmd
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  1796 Apr 22 04:58 mvnDebug
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  1513 Apr 22 04:58 mvnDebug.cmd
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  1843 Apr 22 04:58 mvnyjp

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/boot:
total 104
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  52684 Aug 29  2014 plexus-classworlds-2.5.2.jar

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/conf:
total 32
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 USERNAME  wheel    102 Apr 22 04:55 logging
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  10216 Apr 22 04:55 settings.xml
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   3649 Apr 22 04:55 toolchains.xml

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/conf/logging:
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  1126 Apr 22 04:55 simplelogger.properties

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/lib:
total 18656
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   136324 Jan 29  2015 aether-api-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-api.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    36745 Jan 29  2015 aether-connector-basic-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-connector-basic.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   172998 Jan 29  2015 aether-impl-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-impl.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    30705 Jan 29  2015 aether-spi-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-spi.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    25355 Jan 29  2015 aether-transport-wagon-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-transport-wagon.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   146876 Jan 29  2015 aether-util-1.0.2.v20150114.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 aether-util.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel     4467 May  7  2013 aopalliance-1.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    44908 May  7  2013 cdi-api-1.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    21837 Apr 22 04:58 cdi-api.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    41123 May  7  2013 commons-cli-1.2.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   173587 May  7  2013 commons-io-2.2.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   284220 May  7  2013 commons-lang-2.6.jar
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 USERNAME  wheel      102 Apr 22 04:55 ext
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  2256213 Nov  1  2014 guava-18.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel     2497 May  7  2013 javax.inject-1.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   293671 Jul 24  2013 jsoup-1.7.2.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel     3449 Apr 22 04:58 jsoup.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel     5848 May  7  2013 jsr250-api-1.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    18116 Apr 22 04:58 jsr250-api.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    66349 Apr 22 04:57 maven-aether-provider-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-aether-provider.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    55090 Apr 22 04:56 maven-artifact-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-artifact.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    14964 Apr 22 04:56 maven-builder-support-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-builder-support.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   286726 Apr 22 04:58 maven-compat-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-compat.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   631881 Apr 22 04:57 maven-core-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-core.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    86051 Apr 22 04:58 maven-embedder-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-embedder.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   160817 Apr 22 04:56 maven-model-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   176410 Apr 22 04:56 maven-model-builder-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-model-builder.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-model.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    46099 Apr 22 04:56 maven-plugin-api-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-plugin-api.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    25957 Apr 22 04:57 maven-repository-metadata-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-repository-metadata.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    43032 Apr 22 04:57 maven-settings-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    43154 Apr 22 04:57 maven-settings-builder-3.3.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-settings-builder.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 maven-settings.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   375267 Feb 20  2015 org.eclipse.sisu.inject-0.3.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 org.eclipse.sisu.inject.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   205404 Feb 20  2015 org.eclipse.sisu.plexus-0.3.0.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    12637 Apr 22 04:58 org.eclipse.sisu.plexus.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    13350 May  7  2013 plexus-cipher-1.7.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    21837 Apr 22 04:58 plexus-cipher.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel     4211 May  7  2013 plexus-component-annotations-1.5.5.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    62458 Oct 29  2014 plexus-interpolation-1.21.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    28555 May  7  2013 plexus-sec-dispatcher-1.3.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    21837 Apr 22 04:58 plexus-sec-dispatcher.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   243128 Oct 29  2014 plexus-utils-3.0.20.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel   399672 Feb 20  2015 sisu-guice-3.2.5-no_aop.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    26084 Jul 24  2013 slf4j-api-1.7.5.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    14853 Apr 22 04:58 slf4j-api.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    10680 Aug 17  2013 slf4j-simple-1.7.5.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    14853 Apr 22 04:58 slf4j-simple.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11432 Apr 21 06:27 wagon-file-2.9.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 wagon-file.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  2259073 Apr 21 06:32 wagon-http-2.9-shaded.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11787 Apr 21 06:27 wagon-http-shared-2.9.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 wagon-http-shared.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 wagon-http.license
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    53543 Apr 21 06:27 wagon-provider-api-2.9.jar
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel    11358 Apr 22 04:58 wagon-provider-api.license

/Library/Maven-3.3.3/lib/ext:
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 USERNAME  wheel  152 Apr 22 04:55 README.txt

Answer 1

Please remove M2_HOME as environment variable, it is already set by the mvn script. The only things you need to do is: add apache-maven-3.x.x/bin to your path, set JAVA_HOME as environment variable. So no need to add %JAVA_HOME%/bin to your path

Try to run mvn -v from /Library/Maven-3.3.3/bin/ folder first to confirm the installation is correct. Try to run mvn with xtrace info (tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_02_03.html) and verify the commandline built up by Maven. I assume you get an unexpected classpath argument value.

Answer 2

For absolute new people to maven, make sure you download the "Binary archives" from the Maven site, and not the "Source archives".