Maven javadoc:javadoc works but javadoc:aggregate throws errors that look like compiler errors
java, javadoc, maven, spring
Solution
Fixed: There is a bug in the javadoc compiler both 1.6 and 1.7 where annotations that do not have a jar throw a NPE. The 1.8 javadoc compiler works however I was still getting errors as I didn't have the correct jar. I had to look through several different poms as one of my modules had a different hibernate library hard coded into it.
The final results: When I changed that library to the standard one maven couldn't compile but the javadoc:aggregate would run just fine. Switching both to the version in my module didn't work either. I ended up having to remove the module from my javadoc build using this work around. This didn't matter to much as it was an experimental module but if I had needed it I would have simply added a profile that allowed me to change the version on javadoc run.
Hope no one gets stuck on this again like I did. :)
Problem
I am trying to create an aggregate javadoc for a multi module project. The project compiles with `mvn install -DskipTests` (I am not running tests on my machine). When I run `mvn validate javadoc:javadoc` it works and compiles all of the javadoc in each modules \target\apidocs directory. Then when I run either `mvn validate javadoc:javadoc javadoc:aggregate` or `mvn validate javadoc:aggregate` fails partway through with about 1200 lines of errors. Some examples of types are: ``` Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-javadoc-plugin:2.9.1:aggregate (default-cli) on project commons-superpom: An error has occurred in JavaDocs report generation: [ERROR] Exit code: 1 - C:\workspaces\win\tfs\****\Foo.java:21: type org.springframework.context.ApplicationListener does not take parameters [ERROR] public class Foo implements ApplicationContextAware, ApplicationListener<ContextRefreshedEvent> { [ERROR] ^ . . . C:\workspaces\win\tfs\****\test\Bar.java:52: cannot find symbol [ERROR] symbol : class PostInsertEvent [ERROR] location: class com.Barclass [ERROR] public void BarFunct(PostInsertEvent event) { [ERROR] ^ [ERROR] C:java.lang.NullPointerException [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.TypeMaker.getType(TypeMaker.java:67) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.TypeMaker.getType(TypeMaker.java:29) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.ClassDocImpl.superclassType(ClassDocImpl.java:439) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.util.Util.getAllInterfaces(Util.java:386) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.util.Util.getAllInterfaces(Util.java:424) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.util.ClassTree.processType(ClassTree.java:162) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.util.ClassTree.buildTree(ClassTree.java:114) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.util.ClassTree.<init>(ClassTree.java:73) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.AbstractDoclet.startGeneration(AbstractDoclet.java:104) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.internal.toolkit.AbstractDoclet.start(AbstractDoclet.java:64) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.formats.html.HtmlDoclet.start(HtmlDoclet.java:42) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.doclets.standard.Standard.start(Standard.java:23) [ERROR] at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) [ERROR] at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39) [ERROR] at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25) [ERROR] at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.DocletInvoker.invoke(DocletInvoker.java:269) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.DocletInvoker.start(DocletInvoker.java:143) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.Start.parseAndExecute(Start.java:340) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.Start.begin(Start.java:128) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.Main.execute(Main.java:41) [ERROR] at com.sun.tools.javadoc.Main.main(Main.java:31) ``` After it crashes all that is left in the /target directory next to my parent pom.xml is 2 files 1 is javadoc-bundle-options which contains an xml file: ``` <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <javadocOptions> <docletArtifacts> <docletArtifact /> </docletArtifacts> <tagletArtifacts> <tagletArtifact /> </tagletArtifacts> <excludePackageNames> <excludePackageName>org.foobar.*</excludePackageName> </excludePackageNames> <javadocResourcesDirectory>src/main/javadoc</javadocResourcesDirectory> </javadocOptions> ``` and the second is site which contains a file called apidocs which contains 3 files javadoc.bat, options, and packages. They contain what they appear to contain a batch script to run the javadoc.exe with those options and on those packages. The first error I copied is straight up wrong. ApplicationListener is parameterized and can take ContextRefreshedEvent per the spring documentation. PostInsertEvent is correctly imported as well in the second error. I don't know where the NullPointerException is happening. My plugin configuration for javadoc:aggregate is as follows: ``` <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId> <version>${maven-javadoc-plugin.version}</version> <executions> <execution> <id>attach-javadocs</id> <goals> <goal>aggregate</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> <configuration> <excludePackageNames>org.hibernate.*;org.spring.*<-!-- ;com.***.hibernate.audit --></excludePackageNames> <verbose>true</verbose> <fork>true</fork> <showDeprecation>true</showDeprecation> <showWarnings>true</showWarnings> <source>${java.source.version}</source> <target>${java.target.version}</target> <compilerVersion>${java.source.version}</compilerVersion> <compilerArgument>-Xlint:all</compilerArgument> <minmemory>128m</minmemory> <maxmem>512m</maxmem> <encoding>${project.build.sourceEncoding}</encoding> <additionalparam> -charset UTF-8 -docencoding UTF-8 -version -author -breakiterator -linksource -sourcetab 4 -windowtitle "${project.name} ${project.version} API Reference" -doctitle "${project.name} ${project.version} API Reference" -bottom "Copyright ${project.inceptionYear}-Present ${project.organization.name}. All Rights Reserved." -link http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/ -link http://jsr311.java.net/nonav/releases/1.1 </additionalparam> </configuration> </plugin> ``` If I exclude the commented package then the build runs fine. If however I exclude all of the files in the package and not the package then it crashes with very similar errors. I can generate the javadoc just fine in eclipse. I can stop the nullpointerexception if I edit the options file generated after a failure to use 3.3.2.GA/hibernate-core-3.3.2.GA.jar instead of hibernate-core-4.1.8.Final.jar and then run the bat file. This produces a complete aggregate javadoc site however, there are several errors relating to @Typedef in the run. Javadoc 1.7_60 and 1.6_45 both fail in the same way.