Why Maven uses JDK 1.6 but my java -version is 1.7

Question

add the following to your ~/.mavenrc:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/{jdk-version}/Contents/Home

Second Solution:

echo export "JAVA_HOME=\$(/usr/libexec/java_home)" >> ~/.bash_profile

Get into

/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions

and update the CurrentJDK symbolic link to point to

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/YOUR_JDK_VERSION/Contents/

E.g.

cd /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions
sudo rm CurrentJDK
sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0.jdk/Contents/ CurrentJDK

Now it shall work immediately.

You can also do,

<properties>
      ...  

      <!-- maven-compiler-plugin , aka JAVA Compiler 1.7 -->
      <maven.compiler.target>1.7</maven.compiler.target>
      <maven.compiler.source>1.7</maven.compiler.source>

      ...  
</properties>

You can also explicitly tell maven which java version to compile for. You can try adding the maven-compiler-plugin to your pom.

<project>
  [...]
  <build>
    [...]
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>3.1</version>
        <configuration>
          <source>1.7</source>
          <target>1.7</target>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
    [...]
  </build>
  [...]
</project>

If you imported a maven project into an IDE, then there is probably a maven setting in your IDE for default compiler that your maven runner is using.

It helped me. Just add it in your pom.xml.

By default maven compiler plugin uses Java 1.5 or 1.6, you have to redefine it in your pom.xml.

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <source>1.8</source>
                <target>1.8</target>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

For Eclipse Users. If you have a Run Configuration that does clean package for example.

In the Run Configuration panel there is a JRE tab where you can specify against which runtime it should run. Note that this configuration overrides whatever is in the pom.xml.

I am late to this question, but I think the best way to handle JDK versions on MacOS is by using the script described at: http://www.jayway.com/2014/01/15/how-to-switch-jdk-version-on-mac-os-x-maverick/