If the execution of a default goal requires a pom.xml then we have an
chicken-and-egg situation.
I am honest, I didn't know default goals exists. First time I have heard
of them.
But since this went into straight into a technical discussion I assume
no one sees a problem with my problem of the usability.
The java as well as the javac command require arguments to do anything.
If you do not provide something, they print a usage instead. mvn is part
of that ecosystem. Its behaviour should match. That is my point.
I would suggest the quick fix in mvn.sh and mvn.cmd. Print usage if
there is no argument.
By the way If I use mvn with -f flag and point to an non-existing
pom.xml file I get:
mvn -f Development/pom.xml
POM file Development/pom.xml specified with the -f/--file command line
argument does not exist
POM file Development/pom.xml specified with the -f/--file command line
argument does not exist
This does not result in a build failure. Inconsistent behavior.
No idea why the message is printed twice.
with kind regards
Björn
Am 18.09.2026 09:37 schrieb Tamás Cservenák:
Howdy,
The `mvn -h` runs _very early_, when not even DI is set up (or is, but
partially).
To detect if there is any "default" goal set, the model of the current
project must be built (and this may include resolution, like an
external parent of the project POM and so on).
At this point, when there is no use specified goal, nor project
"default" goal set, yes, we could do something smarter, maybe even
just fall back to -h?
On Wed, 16 Sept 2026 at 12:48, Mirko Friedenhagen
<[email protected]> wrote:
Maybe maven-core could include a plugin with _one_ mojo called
cli-help which could be defined as default goal, then?
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Mirko Friedenhagen
—
> Am 08.09.2026 um 16:09 schrieb Gary Gregory <[email protected]>:
>
> If you run mvn without args, then Maven runs the default goal, so it should
> NOT print help. You could argue that the message should be clearer if there
> are no args AND there is no default goal.
>
> 2c,
> Gary
>
> On Tue, Sep 8, 2026, 09:44 Björn Raupach <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hello Apache Maven developers,
>>
>> I'm looking for an explanation of a behaviour in Maven that I'm still
>> unclear about.
>>
>> If I type the mvn command without any arguments I get an BUILD FAILURE.
>>
>> What I consider the better option is printing the usage or help instead.
>> The output I am getting when executing mvn -h.
>>
>> In my humble opinion, this is a quick fix and a small, yet notable,
>> improvement to usability for command line users.
>>
>> Something like this in the mvn shell script just before the final exec.
>>
>> if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
>> set -- "-h"
>> fi
>>
>> kind regards
>> Björn
>>
>>
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