quarkusio/quarkus · error · MojoExecutionException

Manifest entry name ${key} is invalid. " characters are not

Error message

Manifest entry name ${key} is invalid. " characters are not allowed.

What it means

QuarkusBootstrapProvider.toManifestAttributeKey encodes each user-supplied manifest entry from the mojo's manifestEntries into a system property named quarkus.jar.manifest.attributes."<key>". Double quotes are the property-name delimiter, so an entry name containing a double quote would corrupt the encoded key; the method therefore rejects it with a MojoExecutionException before any property is set.

Source

Thrown at devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/QuarkusBootstrapProvider.java:447

                        .getReferencedStrings()) {
                    String referenceValue = mojo.mavenSession().getUserProperties().getProperty(reference);
                    if (referenceValue != null) {
                        effectiveProperties.setProperty(reference, referenceValue);
                        continue;
                    }

                    referenceValue = projectProperties.getProperty(reference);
                    if (referenceValue != null) {
                        effectiveProperties.setProperty(reference, referenceValue);
                    }
                }
            }
            return effectiveProperties;
        }

        private String toManifestAttributeKey(String key) throws MojoExecutionException {
            if (key.contains("\"")) {
                throw new MojoExecutionException("Manifest entry name " + key + " is invalid. \" characters are not allowed.");
            }
            return String.format("%s.\"%s\"", MANIFEST_ATTRIBUTES_PROPERTY_PREFIX, key);
        }

        private String toManifestSectionAttributeKey(String section, String key) throws MojoExecutionException {
            if (section.contains("\"")) {
                throw new MojoExecutionException(
                        "Manifest section name " + section + " is invalid. \" characters are not allowed.");
            }
            if (key.contains("\"")) {
                throw new MojoExecutionException("Manifest entry name " + key + " is invalid. \" characters are not allowed.");
            }
            return String.format("%s.\"%s\".\"%s\"", MANIFEST_SECTIONS_PROPERTY_PREFIX, section,
                    key);
        }

        protected CuratedApplication bootstrapApplication(QuarkusBootstrapMojo mojo, LaunchMode mode,
                Consumer<QuarkusBootstrap.Builder> builderCustomizer) throws MojoExecutionException {

View on GitHub (pinned to e1c734241f)

Solutions

Remove the double-quote character from the manifest entry name in the mojo/plugin configuration
Check the pom.xml <manifestEntries> section for stray or escaped quotes
If the name comes from a Maven property, sanitize or correct the property value
Rename the entry to a valid JAR manifest attribute name (alphanumeric, dash, underscore)

Example fix

// pom.xml
// before
<manifestEntries>
  <Implementation-"Title">MyApp</Implementation-"Title">
</manifestEntries>
// after
<manifestEntries>
  <Implementation-Title>MyApp</Implementation-Title>
</manifestEntries>

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Validate manifest entry names before building
String key = manifestEntry.getKey();
if (key.contains("\"")) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Manifest entry name '" + key + "' must not contain double quotes");
}

Type guard

boolean isValidManifestEntryName(String key) {
    return key != null && !key.contains("\"");
}

Try / catch

try {
    quarkusBuildMojo.execute();
} catch (MojoExecutionException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Manifest entry name") && e.getMessage().contains("not allowed")) {
        getLog().error("Fix the manifestEntries key in pom.xml: remove the double-quote character. " + e.getMessage());
    } else { throw e; }
}

Prevention

Keep manifest entry names to alphanumerics, dashes, underscores and slashes
Never interpolate unvalidated user input into manifest entry names in pom.xml
Lint the POM for stray quote characters in plugin configuration
Review any generated/templated manifest configuration for escaped-quote bugs

When it happens

Trigger: A <manifestEntries> entry in the maven-jar-plugin-style configuration (or quarkus:build mojo config) has an attribute name containing the " character; getBuildSystemProperties iterates manifestEntries and calls toManifestAttributeKey which detects the quote and throws.

Common situations: Copy-pasted manifest entry names containing stray quotes; templated/generated entry names where a placeholder was substituted with a quoted string; typos like <Implementation-Title"foo">.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of quarkusio/quarkus@e1c734241f (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/82a7e6dc223ceaab. Report an issue: GitHub.