Maven assembly plugin fails with NullPointerException?

Question

I get a NullPointerException and I don't like it. It is a larger build with several submodules (which differ in their maven config only slightly), for most of the modules it does work, but for some not. Any ideas what the problem might be?

[INFO] [assembly:assembly]
[INFO] Reading assembly descriptor: src/assemble/all.xml
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] FATAL ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] null
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.maven.artifact.DefaultArtifact.equals(DefaultArtifact.java:358)
at java.util.HashMap.put(HashMap.java:376)
at java.util.HashSet.add(HashSet.java:200)
at java.util.AbstractCollection.addAll(AbstractCollection.java:305)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.assembly.artifact.DefaultDependencyResolver.buildManagedVersionMap(DefaultDependencyResolver.java:160)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.assembly.archive.DefaultAssemblyArchiver.createArchive(DefaultAssemblyArchiver.java:179)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.assembly.mojos.AbstractAssemblyMojo.execute(AbstractAssemblyMojo.java:370)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:483)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:678)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:553)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:523)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:371)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:268)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:181)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:356)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:137)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:356)
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)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 41 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Fri Jun 19 10:44:03 CEST 2009
[INFO] Final Memory: 32M/99M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer 1

Looking at line 358 of the head revision, my guess is that something, somewhere has no version defined.

I don't really "know" Maven, but I'd suggest checking your versions carefully. Of course, it's possible that I'm not looking at the same source code as you're using - have a look at the source for your actual version to see what's at DefaultArtifact.java line 358.

Answer 2

If the versions are not empty like Jon-skeet suggested it could be a maven-enforcer-plugin bug: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MENFORCER-156

Essentially, the maven-enforcer-plugin (in at least version 1.3) "puts the MavenProject in a state where it claims that all dependencies are resolved, but the artifact-files are not bound."

For me this reoccurred in version 1.4.1.