<plugins> unrecognized tag in pom xml

Question

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>org.springframework.samples.service.service</groupId>
  <artifactId>localgame</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>war</packaging>

    <properties>

        <!-- Generic properties -->
        <java.version>1.6</java.version>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>

        <!-- Web -->
        <jsp.version>2.2</jsp.version>
        <jstl.version>1.2</jstl.version>
        <servlet.version>2.5</servlet.version>


        <!-- Spring -->
        <spring-framework.version>3.2.3.RELEASE</spring-framework.version>

        <!-- Hibernate / JPA -->
        <hibernate.version>4.2.1.Final</hibernate.version>

        <!-- Logging -->
        <logback.version>1.0.13</logback.version>
        <slf4j.version>1.7.5</slf4j.version>

        <!-- Test -->
        <junit.version>4.11</junit.version>

    </properties>

    <dependencies>

        <!-- Spring MVC -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-framework.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Other Web dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>${jstl.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>${servlet.version}</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
            <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
            <version>${jsp.version}</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring and Transactions -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-framework.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Logging with SLF4J & LogBack -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
            <scope>compile</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
            <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
            <version>${logback.version}</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Hibernate -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
            <version>${hibernate.version}</version>
        </dependency>


        <!-- Test Artifacts -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-framework.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>${junit.version}</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies> 

    <plugins>
            <plugin>
                    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>3.1</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
                    <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                    <version>2.1</version>
            </plugin>
    </plugins>


</project>

Here's my pom.xml. When I try to do mvn install I get an error saying that is unrecognized tag. How do I fix this ?

Answer 1

You have to surround the plugins tag with the build tag like this: 

  <build>
    <plugins>
     <plugin>
      ...
     </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>

or with the build and pluginManagement tags like this:

  <build>
    <pluginManagement>
      <plugins> 
       <plugin>
        ...
       </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>
  </build>