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.
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.
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.
References
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thanks! this instructions helped me a lot!
- cindy
Thanks for that!
- James
I got the error below Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
- flybrid
I resolved it myself.
- flybrid
How did you resolve it?
- Fijai Cairo
export M2_HOME=/usr/local/Cellar/maven/3.2.2/libexec
- Fijai Cairo
export M2_HOME=/usr/local/apache-maven/apache-maven-3.2.5 export M2=$M2_HOME/bin export PATH=$M2:$PATH
- Wiem SGHAIER
I would recommend using homebrew (https://brew.sh/) and simply do: brew install maven
- alex
Thank you for the wonderful tutorial! (y)
- Afreen
Thank you so much for the wonderful tutorial!
- Silvio Di Pasquale
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
- A_V
Excellent tutorial. Simple and to the point
- Gibran Castillo
thank you so much. :)
- Sang Min Park
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.
- Brian
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.
- Pankaj
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!
- Priya
By default it’s located in the user home directory.
- Pankaj
Thanks a lot for this manual. Much appreciated)
- Igor
Thanks for the article.
- bikshapathi
Thanks for that
- Arun
Thanks for that
- rogerhuang
Helped alot! Thanks
- Tarun
Thanks a bunch! This worked 100%.
- Helen
Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
- iliyaz
I got the same Error: Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher
- freejack
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”.
- Ajinkya
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
- Jyoti
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
- Mitul
thank you so much, I tried it and worked, after going frustrated with “how to fix Maven downloaded via Homebrew”
- Xuan Trieu
Thanks Pankaj, Found this while trying to install with Homebrew wasn’t working for me. This was truly helpful
- Vickie
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
- manojpanchal50
On new MacOS, Catalina for example, the .bash_profile has been renamed to .zprofile
- Micael
This worked. I have been searching on internet for 2 hours. Thank a lot Micael.
- Mandar
thank Micael, this works for me !!
- Bhuwan
Thank you so much… The steps helped me
- Ramesh
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
- Heena Jain
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
- Mani Gupta
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?
- Rajita
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
- Pankaj