apache/maven · error · ResourceDoesNotExistException

Unable to download the artifact from any repository

Error message

Unable to download the artifact from any repository

What it means

Final verdict of the legacy multi-repository getArtifact(): Maven iterated every configured remote repository, ResourceDoesNotExistException from each was swallowed (logged at debug), no TransferFailedException was recorded, and the file still does not exist locally - so it throws ResourceDoesNotExistException 'Unable to download the artifact from any repository'. In contrast to the cached variants, each repository was actually checked and answered 'not found'.

Solutions

Verify the exact coordinates (groupId:artifactId:version:packaging:classifier) against the repository (search Nexus/Central web UI)
Add the repository that actually hosts the artifact to the POM or settings.xml, and exempt it from mirrorOf 'catch-alls'
Check the repository policy: a snapshots-only repo cannot serve releases and vice versa
Confirm the artifact was actually deployed (CI deploy job succeeded) and re-check version spelling including -SNAPSHOT suffixes
Run with -e -X to see every repository URL that was tried and each 404 path

Example fix

# before: repo hosting artifact not declared
<dependency><groupId>com.corp</groupId><artifactId>lib</artifactId><version>1.2</version></dependency>
# after: declare (or mirror-exempt) the hosting repo
<repositories>
  <repository>
    <id>corp-releases</id><url>https://nexus.corp.example/releases</url>
  </repository>
</repositories>
# plus settings.xml mirror: <mirrorOf>*,!corp-releases</mirrorOf>

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Before resolving, confirm each coordinate exists in at least one configured repo
// for (repo : repos) { if (exists(repo.url + '/' + groupPath + '/' + artifactId + '/' + version)) ok; }

Try / catch

catch (org.apache.maven.wagon.ResourceDoesNotExistException e) {
    if ("Unable to download the artifact from any repository".equals(e.getMessage())) {
        // every repo said 404: verify coordinates/repos/policies; run -X to list tried URLs
    }
}

Prevention

Double-check groupId/artifactId/version/classifier before adding dependencies
Declare the hosting repository and exempt it from catch-all mirrors
Verify releases/snapshots policy of each repo matches the dependency type
Run with -X once to see the exact URLs Maven tried

When it happens

Trigger: getArtifact(artifact, remoteRepositories, monitor, force) where every repository either has the repo disabled for the artifact policy, misses the artifact path (404), or is skipped, and the local file is absent; no hard transfer error occurred anywhere.

Common situations: Wrong groupId/artifactId/version (typo, uncommitted version bump); artifact deployed to a private repo not in the build's repository list; releases policy disabled where a release is sought (or vice versa); mirrors absorbing all traffic without hosting the artifact; dependencies on a coworker's local-only artifact.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/maven@e4093d4e12 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/95a2e4d3128382ff. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at compat/maven-compat/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/repository/legacy/DefaultWagonManager.java:204

                tfe = e;

                String msg = "Unable to get artifact " + artifact.getId() + " from repository " + repository.getId()
                        + " (" + repository.getUrl() + "): " + e.getMessage();

                if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
                    logger.warn(msg, e);
                } else {
                    logger.warn(msg);
                }
            }
        }

        // if it already exists locally we were just trying to force it - ignore the update
        if (!artifact.getFile().exists()) {
            if (tfe != null) {
                throw tfe;
            } else {
                throw new ResourceDoesNotExistException("Unable to download the artifact from any repository");
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void getArtifactMetadata(
            ArtifactMetadata metadata, ArtifactRepository repository, File destination, String checksumPolicy)
            throws TransferFailedException, ResourceDoesNotExistException {
        String remotePath = repository.pathOfRemoteRepositoryMetadata(metadata);

        getRemoteFile(repository, destination, remotePath, null, checksumPolicy, true);
    }

    @Override
    public void getArtifactMetadataFromDeploymentRepository(
            ArtifactMetadata metadata, ArtifactRepository repository, File destination, String checksumPolicy)
            throws TransferFailedException, ResourceDoesNotExistException {
        String remotePath = repository.pathOfRemoteRepositoryMetadata(metadata);

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