quarkusio/quarkus · error · MojoExecutionException

Manifest section name ${section} is invalid. " characters ar

Error message

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

What it means

QuarkusBootstrapProvider.toManifestSectionAttributeKey encodes a manifest section name and its entry into a property like quarkus.jar.manifest.sections."<section>"."<key>". Because double quotes delimit the parts of that property name, a section name containing a double quote would break the encoding, so it is rejected with a MojoExecutionException.

Source

Thrown at devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/QuarkusBootstrapProvider.java:454

                    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 {
            if (mode == LaunchMode.DEVELOPMENT) {
                return devApp == null ? devApp = doBootstrap(mojo, mode, builderCustomizer) : devApp;
            }
            if (mode == LaunchMode.TEST) {
                return testApp == null ? testApp = doBootstrap(mojo, mode, builderCustomizer) : testApp;
            }
            return prodApp == null ? prodApp = doBootstrap(mojo, mode, builderCustomizer) : prodApp;

View on GitHub (pinned to e1c734241f)

Solutions

Remove the double-quote character from the manifest section name in the configuration
Check the <manifestSections> block in the pom.xml for stray or escaped quotes
Use a standard JAR manifest section name (e.g. an agent or signing section name without quotes)
If the name is derived from a Maven property, fix the property value

Example fix

// pom.xml
// before
<manifestSection>
  <name>org.example."custom"-section</name>
  <manifestEntries><Foo>bar</Foo></manifestEntries>
</manifestSection>
// after
<manifestSection>
  <name>org.example.custom-section</name>
  <manifestEntries><Foo>bar</Foo></manifestEntries>
</manifestSection>

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

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

Type guard

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

Try / catch

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

Prevention

Use standard JAR manifest section naming (no quotes) in manifestSections config
Never derive section names from unvalidated user input or unchecked Maven properties
Lint the POM manifestSections block for quote characters
Code-review any script that generates manifestSection configuration

When it happens

Trigger: A <manifestSections><manifestSection><name>...</name> configuration block contains a " character in the section name; getBuildSystemProperties iterates manifestSections and calls toManifestSectionAttributeKey, which throws on the first quote found in the section name.

Common situations: Copy-pasted section names with stray quotes; generated section names built from user input that included quotes; typos in the pom.xml manifestSections configuration.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of quarkusio/quarkus@e1c734241f (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8ae829b034c33a25. Report an issue: GitHub.