quarkusio/quarkus · error · IllegalArgumentException

One of type, version or separating them ':' is missing from

Error message

One of type, version or separating them ':' is missing from '${str}'

What it means

GACTV.parse/fromString parses a 'group:artifact:type:version' coordinate string. split() requires a colon that separates the type and version: it must not be the first character and must not be the last character. If the string lacks a valid ':type:version' suffix, IllegalArgumentException is thrown.

Source

Thrown at independent-projects/bootstrap/app-model/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/dependency/GACTV.java:25

    private static final long serialVersionUID = -8362130311897578173L;

    public static GACTV fromString(String str) {
        return new GACTV(split(str, new String[5]));
    }

    public static ArtifactCoords pom(String groupId, String artifactId, String version) {
        return new GACTV(groupId, artifactId, null, TYPE_POM, version);
    }

    public static ArtifactCoords jar(String groupId, String artifactId, String version) {
        return new GACTV(groupId, artifactId, null, TYPE_JAR, version);
    }

    protected static String[] split(String str, String[] parts) {
        final int versionSep = str.lastIndexOf(':');
        if (versionSep <= 0 || versionSep == str.length() - 1) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("One of type, version or separating them ':' is missing from '" + str + "'");
        }
        parts[4] = str.substring(versionSep + 1);
        return GACT.split(str, parts, versionSep);
    }

    private final String groupId;
    private final String artifactId;
    private final String classifier;
    private final String type;
    private final String version;

    private transient ArtifactKey key;

    protected GACTV(String[] parts) {
        groupId = parts[0];
        artifactId = parts[1];
        classifier = parts[2] == null ? DEFAULT_CLASSIFIER : parts[2];
        type = parts[3] == null ? TYPE_JAR : parts[3];

View on GitHub (pinned to e1c734241f)

Solutions

Pass a full coordinate string of the form groupId:artifactId:type:version, e.g. 'org.acme:app:jar:1.0.0'
If the type is optional, use the GACTV variant that defaults to jar, but still supply a version: 'org.acme:app:jar:1.0.0'
Trim stray trailing/leading colons from the input string before parsing
Validate the string with a regex like ^[^:]+(:[^:]+){3}$ before calling fromString

Example fix

// before
GACTV.fromString("io.quarkus:quarkus-core");
// after
GACTV.fromString("io.quarkus:quarkus-core:jar:3.0.0.Final");

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

boolean isParseableCoordinate(String s) {
    return s != null && s.matches("[^:]+:[^:]+:[^:]+:[^:]+"); // g:a:t:v
}

Try / catch

try {
    GACTV coord = GACTV.fromString(raw);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Bad coordinate '" + raw + "', expected groupId:artifactId:type:version", e);
}

Prevention

Always supply type and version in coordinate strings (g:a:t:v)
Trim whitespace and stray colons from user/config input before parsing
Validate coordinates with a regex before calling fromString
Prefer building coordinates programmatically (new GACTV(...)) over string parsing when possible

When it happens

Trigger: Calling GACTV.fromString(str) or GACTV.parse(str) with a string whose lastIndexOf(':') is 0 (only a leading colon), or equals str.length()-1 (trailing colon with empty version), or where no colon exists after the version position.

Common situations: Hand-written dependency coordinates in configuration or CLI args like 'org.foo:bar' (missing type/version) or 'org.foo:bar:jar:' (trailing colon); copy-paste of Maven coordinates that omit type and version; properties files with truncated values.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of quarkusio/quarkus@e1c734241f (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/36bbc958e3c60b60. Report an issue: GitHub.