title: Maven archetype: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test failed.: NullPointerException
body: <p>On Ubuntu Server 18.04, I created a skeleton Maven project as follows, and am just trying to get it to compile.</p>
  
  <pre><code>mvn archetype:generate \
  -DgroupId=com.mycompany.app \
  -DartifactId=my-app \
  -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart \
  -DinteractiveMode=false \
  -DarchetypeVersion=1.3
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Running <code>mvn compile</code> is fine.
  But running <code>mvn test</code> fails with error</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test (default-test) on project my-app: Execution default-test of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:<strong>test failed.: NullPointerException</strong> -> [Help 1]</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Two questions:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>What could be causing this?</p></li>
  <li><p>As I understand it, <a href="https://maven.apache.org/archetype/maven-archetype-plugin/generate-mojo.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">archetype:generate</a> is an official plugin that helps creating template Maven projects. Are there alternative ways to easily create skeleton Maven projects?</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>Full stacktrace</p>
  
  <pre><code>WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
  WARNING: Illegal reflective access by com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1 (file:/usr/share/maven/lib/guice.jar) to method java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String,byte[],int,int,java.security.ProtectionDomain)
  WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1
  WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations
  WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release
  [INFO] Error stacktraces are turned on.
  [INFO] Scanning for projects...
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Building my-app 1.0-SNAPSHOT
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:3.0.2:resources (default-resources) @ my-app ---
  [INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
  [INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/ubuntu/my-app/src/main/resources
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.7.0:compile (default-compile) @ my-app ---
  [INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:3.0.2:testResources (default-testResources) @ my-app ---
  [INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
  [INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/ubuntu/my-app/src/test/resources
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.7.0:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ my-app ---
  [INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
  [INFO] Compiling 1 source file to /home/ubuntu/my-app/target/test-classes
  [INFO] 
  [INFO] --- maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test (default-test) @ my-app ---
  [INFO] Surefire report directory: /home/ubuntu/my-app/target/surefire-reports
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] BUILD FAILURE
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [INFO] Total time: 3.119 s
  [INFO] Finished at: 2018-11-12T08:28:22Z
  [INFO] Final Memory: 13M/31M
  [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  [ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test (default-test) on project my-app: Execution default-test of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test failed.: NullPointerException -&gt; [Help 1]
  org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test (default-test) on project my-app: Execution default-test of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test failed.
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:213)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:154)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:146)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:128)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:309)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:194)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:107)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:955)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:290)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:194)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0 (Native Method)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:564)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:289)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:229)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:415)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:356)
  Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginExecutionException: Execution default-test of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:2.20.1:test failed.
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo (DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:145)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:208)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:154)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:146)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:128)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:309)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:194)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:107)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:955)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:290)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:194)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0 (Native Method)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:564)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:289)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:229)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:415)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:356)
  Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
      at org.apache.maven.surefire.shade.org.apache.commons.lang3.SystemUtils.isJavaVersionAtLeast (SystemUtils.java:1626)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.AbstractSurefireMojo.getEffectiveJvm (AbstractSurefireMojo.java:2107)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.AbstractSurefireMojo.getForkConfiguration (AbstractSurefireMojo.java:1976)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.AbstractSurefireMojo.executeProvider (AbstractSurefireMojo.java:1111)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.AbstractSurefireMojo.executeAfterPreconditionsChecked (AbstractSurefireMojo.java:954)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.AbstractSurefireMojo.execute (AbstractSurefireMojo.java:832)
      at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo (DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:134)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:208)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:154)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:146)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
      at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:128)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:309)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:194)
      at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:107)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:955)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:290)
      at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:194)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0 (Native Method)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
      at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
      at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:564)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:289)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:229)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:415)
      at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:356)
  [ERROR] 
  [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/PluginExecutionException
  </code></pre>