Install Maven on Mac
Maven is the most widely used build and project dependency management tool for Java-based applications.
We can install Maven on Mac OS using a package manager such as HomeBrew or through XCode Command Line Tools. But, in this tutorial, we will learn how to install Maven on Mac OS without using any other software.
Maven requires Java to execute. So we will have to first install Java and then maven into our Mac OS.
1. Installing Java on Mac
We will install OpenJDK in our Mac OS. It’s free and you don’t have to worry about licensing that comes with Oracle JDK build.
1.1) Downloading Java for Mac OS
Go to the latest JDK GA release page and download the tar file for Mac OS.
Java 13 GA Release URL: https://jdk.java.net/13/
Then extract it to the directory of your choice. I prefer to keep my JDK setup at “/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/” directory.
$ tar -xvf openjdk-13.0.1_osx-x64_bin.tar.gz
$ sudo mv jdk-13.0.1.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
Recommended Reading: Linux tar command to compress and extract files
1.2) Setting Environment Variables – JAVA_HOME and Path
Open .bash_profile and add the following entries at the end of it.
JAVA_HOME="/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home"
PATH="${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH
You can relaunch the Terminal to apply these profile changes. Or you can also run source .bash_profile command to apply these environment variable changes.
Recommended Reading: Linux Environment Variables
1.3) Verifying the JDK installation
Open the Terminal and run java -version command. It should show the following output.
$ java -version
openjdk version "13.0.1" 2019-10-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 13.0.1+9)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 13.0.1+9, mixed mode, sharing)
$
However, you might get an alert message with the following warning.
“jdk-13.0.1.jdk” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.
macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.
Jdk13 Macos Verify Error
You will have to allow the app to execute from the “Security and Privacy” settings.
After that, the java command will work fine and the alert message will not be shown.
2. Install Maven on Mac OS
Now that we have successfully installed JDK, we are ready to download and install Maven in Mac OS.
2.1) Download Maven for Mac OS
Go to the Maven Download site: https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi
Download the “Binary tar.gz archive” file as shown in the below image.
Maven Binary Tar Archive
After downloading, extract it using the below command.
$ tar -xvf apache-maven-3.6.3-bin.tar.gz
The binaries will be extracted in the “apache-maven-3.6.3” directory. You can keep them anywhere, I have kept it in the Downloads directory for the sake of easy access.
2.2) Setting Maven Environment Variables – M2_HOME and Path
The next step is to set up the environment variables – M2_HOME and Path. We have to add the Maven bin directory to the Path variable.
Open .bash_profile in your favorite text editor and add below lines to the end of it.
export M2_HOME="/Users/pankaj/Downloads/apache-maven-3.6.3"
PATH="${M2_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH
You can relaunch Terminal to load these profile settings or use source .bash_profile command to apply it.
2.3) Verifying the Maven Installation
Finally, run the mvn -version command to check if Maven is installed successfully.
$ mvn -version
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: Ignoring option MaxPermSize; support was removed in 8.0
Apache Maven 3.6.3 (cecedd343002696d0abb50b32b541b8a6ba2883f)
Maven home: /Users/pankaj/Downloads/apache-maven-3.6.3
Java version: 13.0.1, vendor: Oracle Corporation, runtime: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-13.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home
Default locale: en_IN, platform encoding: UTF-8
OS name: "mac os x", version: "10.15.1", arch: "x86_64", family: "mac"
$
The output shows maven home location, the JDK it’s using and also the Mac OS version details.
Maven is successfully installed in your Mac OS. You are ready to create a maven based Java projects.
Hi
I’ve tried every possible solution online to set a maven path on MacBookAir(Apple M1 chip), but nothing worked. I’ve downloaded maven and extracted but setting the path on a terminal is troubling me. I always get the message on the terminal “zsh: command not found: PATH” whenever I try to set the path.
Can someone help me with this, please?
When you execute the $PATH command, does it print some path or print nothing? If it prints nothing, then you need to set the PATH variable in the .bash_profile file. If it prints something, then see if the maven path is there or not. I have the following entries in my .bash_profile for setting the maven path.
export M2_HOME=”/Users/pankaj/Downloads/apache-maven-3.6.3″
PATH=”${M2_HOME}/bin:${PATH}”
export PATH
Hi,
I am trying to install maven on my mac pc. I followed all your steps and getting this error
“Error occurred during initialization of VM
Incompatible minimum and maximum heap sizes specified”
Please help to get me out from this error
TIA
java -version command works for me.
But mvn –version still says mv command not found
I have following in bash_profile
JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_77.jdk/Contents/Home
export PATH JAVA_HOME
J2=$JAVA_HOME/bin
export PATH J2
M2_HOME=/Applications/apache-maven-3.4.5
export PATH M2_HOME
M2=$M2_HOME/bin
export PATH M2
Thank you so much.. The steps helped me
On new MacOS, Catalina for example, the .bash_profile has been renamed to .zprofile
This worked. I have been searching on internet for 2 hours.
Thank a lot Micael.
thank Micael, this works for me !!
manojkumar.panchal@LM0000941 ~ % mvn version
[INFO] Scanning for projects…
[INFO] ————————————————————————
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ————————————————————————
[INFO] Total time: 0.069 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2020-06-03T16:11:40+05:30
[INFO] ————————————————————————
[ERROR] The goal you specified requires a project to execute but there is no POM in this directory (/Users/manojkumar.panchal). Please verify you invoked Maven from the correct directory. -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR]
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MissingProjectException
Thanks Pankaj,
Found this while trying to install with Homebrew wasn’t working for me.
This was truly helpful
thank you so much, I tried it and worked, after going frustrated with “how to fix Maven downloaded via Homebrew”
Hi,
I tried the steps. When I do this it works for single session. i.e. Next time when I close and reopen terminal and do man -version I get:
-sh: mvn: command not found
How to fix this?
Waiting for reply
I also face same issue. Every time for new terminal getting -sh: mvn: command not found
To resolve the issue I need to hit source .bash_profile before executing mvn -version
Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
I got the same Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
Check if your PATH variable is set correctly. In my case, I was overriding the pre-existing PATH value which contains “/usr/local/opt/openssl/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin”.
Thanks a bunch! This worked 100%.
Helped alot! Thanks
Thanks for that
Thanks for that
Thanks for the article.
Thanks a lot for this manual. Much appreciated)
Hi,
I am not able to locate the .m2 folder. I installed the entire thing in my Documents folder. Also, I have enabled all hidden files to be shown. Yet, I can’t see the .m2 where my local repo will be.
Please help!
By default it’s located in the user home directory.
May I recommend creating a symbolic link for maven once you have it installed rather than having the specific version in your path and M2_Home variable?
ln -s apache-maven-3.0.5 maven
That way you only have to move the symbolic link when you install a new version.
Its a personal choice, I prefer to have these kind of settings in my bash profile. I have java 6, 7, 8 setup and java home is configured in bash profile.
thank you so much. 🙂
Excellent tutorial. Simple and to the point
Very precise and easy tutorial. Thank You.
———————–
The way to open a .bash_profile
touch .bash_profile
then say:
open -a TextEdit.app .bash_profile
Thank you so much for the wonderful tutorial!
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial! (y)
I would recommend using homebrew (https://brew.sh/) and simply do:
brew install maven
I got the error below
Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
I resolved it myself.
How did you resolve it?
export M2_HOME=/usr/local/Cellar/maven/3.2.2/libexec
export M2_HOME=/usr/local/apache-maven/apache-maven-3.2.5
export M2=$M2_HOME/bin
export PATH=$M2:$PATH
Thanks for that!
thanks! this instructions helped me a lot!