Fix Maven Source Version Having No Effect

In a recent article at http://impossible-is-development.blogspot.com/2012/11/basic-maven-project-build-fix-tip.html, I wrote about a trick to get the .classpath file to reflect the src/main/java etcetera build structure. This trick actually helps in another not-to-uncommon situation: unsyncronized source versions.

If you create a new pom.xml, it may happen that there is no Java versions information given. The version can be given in two ways; via some xml using a 'properties' tag, or via more xml. 

Plugin config: 

<build>

<plugins>

<plugin>

maven-compiler-plugin

<configuration>

<source>1.6</source>

<target>1.6</target>

</configuration>

</plugin></plugins>

Sorry about the formatting. (Doesn't the Blogger editor suck something awful for quotes and code? ...hmm...can one blog on Github?)

<project.build.source>1.6</project.build.source> <project.build.target>1.6</project.build.target>

(Again, sorry about the formatting.)

Now; if you add this to an existing pom.xml, Eclipse may fail to take note of this change automatically. Maybe it never takes note. In any case, the same solution applies here as in the earlier blog post: just disable and enable dependency management.