apache/maven · error · IllegalArgumentException

POM file ${arg} specified with the -f/--file command line ar

Error message

POM file ${arg} specified with the -f/--file command line argument does not exist

What it means

Error "POM file ${arg} specified with the -f/--file command line argument does not exist" thrown in apache/maven.

Source

Thrown at impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/BaseParser.java:341

    protected Path getTopDirectory(LocalContext context) {
        // We need to locate the top level project which may be pointed at using
        // the -f/--file option.
        Path topDirectory = requireNonNull(context.cwd);
        boolean isAltFile = false;
        for (String arg : context.parserRequest.args()) {
            if (isAltFile) {
                // this is the argument following -f/--file
                Path path = topDirectory.resolve(stripLeadingAndTrailingQuotes(arg));
                if (Files.isDirectory(path)) {
                    topDirectory = path;
                } else if (Files.isRegularFile(path)) {
                    topDirectory = path.getParent();
                    if (!Files.isDirectory(topDirectory)) {
                        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Directory " + topDirectory
                                + " extracted from the -f/--file command-line argument " + arg + " does not exist");
                    }
                } else {
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                            "POM file " + arg + " specified with the -f/--file command line argument does not exist");
                }
                break;
            } else {
                // Check if this is the -f/--file option
                isAltFile = arg.equals("-f") || arg.equals("--file");
            }
        }
        return getCanonicalPath(topDirectory);
    }

    @Nullable
    protected Path getRootDirectory(LocalContext context) {
        return CliUtils.findRoot(context.topDirectory);
    }

    protected Map<String, String> populateSystemProperties(LocalContext context) {
        Properties systemProperties = new Properties();

View on GitHub (pinned to e4093d4e12)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at impl/maven-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/cling/invoker/BaseParser.java:341 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/maven@e4093d4e12 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/224505275d3ec35f. Report an issue: GitHub.