[MNG-6060] better and precise error reporting when project is not found e.g. with -rf option

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Trivial
• Resolution: Not A Problem
• Affects Version/s: 3.3.9
• Component/s: Command Line, Errors, POM, Reactor and Workspace
• Labels: maven
• Environment: Linux 4.6.2 with Oracle JDK 8
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Gregor B. Rosenauer
• Created: 07/Jul/16 15:50
• Updated: 14/Jan/19 00:01
• Resolved: 14/Jan/19 00:01

Description

when building a multi-module project with -rf and the project is not found, Maven explodes all over your face and prints the entire POM instead of just pointing out the missing project - it does, but hides it before the POM dump so the info is easily lost:

[ERROR] [ERROR] Could not find project to resume reactor build from: :missing-in-action vs [MavenProject: (entire POM dumped here)

Good old make would just tell you this precise and helpful message, instead of dumping the entire makefile:
make: *** No rule to make target 'some-nonexisting-target'. Stop.

Please make maven a bit more user friendly when reporting errors...