junit - Maven Install: "Annotations are not supported in -source 1.3"

Question

When running mvn install on my project, i see it fail due to the following errors:

C:RepositorieslahsrcestjavacomxxxqmestrunnerestATest.java:[11,5] annotations are not supported in -source 1.3
(use -source 5 or higher to enable annotations)
    @Test

C:RepositorieslahsrcestjavacomxxxqmcommonestBTest.java:[11,5] annotations are not supported in -source 1.3
(use -source 5 or higher to enable annotations)
    @Test

My Maven dependency includes jUnit 4.8, however and has no reference to 1.3 anything.

What would cause these errors? Please advise

Answer 1

You need to specify the source version of your maven project through the use of the maven-compiler-plugin. Add the following to your pom build element and set the appropriate java source and target levels.

<build>
     <defaultGoal>install</defaultGoal>
     <plugins>
          <plugin>
               <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
               <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
               <configuration>
                    <source>1.6</source>
                    <target>1.6</target>
               </configuration>
          </plugin>
      </plugins>
</build>

http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/