Maven compile "Cannot find symbol"

Question

For some reason this command works fine with my local machine:

mvn clean install -DskipTests=true -Psdk

However for Codeship it does now work and throws this "Cannot find symbol" error. In Codeship the full command is:

jdk_switcher use oraclejdk8
echo $JAVA_HOME
mvn clean install -DskipTests=true -Psdk

In the POM the repository have this:

<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>

Error:

[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.1:compile (default-compile) @ client-app ---
[INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
[INFO] Compiling 65 source files to /home/rof/src/bitbucket.org/company/client-app/target/classes
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] COMPILATION ERROR : 
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] /home/rof/src/bitbucket.org/company/client-app/src/main/java/com/client/rest/resources/MyResource.java:[3,61] cannot find symbol
symbol:   class MyEntity

I think it is pretty clear: `MyEntity` class is not included in the compilation classpath. — m0skit0, Apr 30 '15 at 14:55
There is two possible things: you don't have an import for `MyEntity` class in `MyResource` file or you don't have MyEntity class in your classpath. — Dawid Pura, Apr 30 '15 at 15:01
Besides the answers provide by Dawid and m0skit0, you can try compiling using the same JDK on your local system. I realize that you POM specifically states 1.7, but its worth a shot to at least rule it out. I know i have seen similar issues like this in the past. — Jose Martinez, Apr 30 '15 at 15:11
It is likely that you have the dependency for MyEntity.class on your class path on your local machine but not your remote build server (Codeship) it is missing, Can you post up your $PATH for both the codeship and local build machines? — Andrew McKee, May 02 '15 at 11:33

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 29 '15 at 12:57

Your Maven is reading Java version as 1.8, Where as the pom.xml says the version is 1.7.

Try installing the required verison.

If already installed check your $JAVA_HOME environment variable, it should contain the path of Java JDK 8. If you dont find it, fix your environment variable.

also remove the lines

 <fork>true</fork>
     <executable>${JAVA_1_8_HOME}/bin/javac</executable>

from the pom.xml

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '17 at 10:42

3

I had the same issue. reason was one of the class was used in

src/main/java/

Where as in actual it was present in

src/test/java

answered Jul 26 '17 at 10:42

user4906240

605
1
6
20

So what did you do about it? Will help if you can give what you did to resolve the issue. – Abhijeet Vaikar Aug 23 '17 at 07:38
I changed the reference. this error can occur due to multiple reason. Mine was this one. What issue you are having ? – user4906240 Aug 23 '17 at 08:09
Similar one. I had a class in src/main/java which was using reference of a class that was in src/test/java. So when default-compile target executed it was not able to find the test class in src/main/java. – Abhijeet Vaikar Aug 23 '17 at 09:10
Then just create that class in java package instead of test – user4906240 Aug 23 '17 at 10:07

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 30 '17 at 07:40

3

If you have correctly imported dependency the you can try the following process.
First try-
mvn clean
if that runs successfully then try-
mvn install
If this works fine then you can try-
mvn compile
This process worked for me.

answered Aug 30 '17 at 07:40

Pritom

49
1

Btw, this issue can occur because of multiple reasons. First, dependency issue. Second, reference issue. etc. If all the issue has been resolved and you still get the error then you can try the above process. – Pritom Sep 01 '17 at 03:40

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 10 '19 at 14:35

0

I had the similar issue but when I changed Testng version in POM it resolved the issue.

<artifactId>testng</artifactId>
<version>6.9.8</version>       // Changed the version to 6.9.8
<scope>test</scope>

answered May 10 '19 at 14:35

Pranay Prusti

1

Maven compile "Cannot find symbol"

4 Answers4

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