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Robert Scholte commented on MNGSITE-290: ---------------------------------------- from http://maven.apache.org/download.cgi {quote} Files Maven is distributed in several formats for your convenience. Simply pick a ready-made binary distribution archive and follow the installation instructions. Use a source archive if you intend to build Maven yourself. In order to guard against corrupted downloads/installations, it is highly recommended to verify the signature of the release bundles against the public KEYS used by the Apache Maven developers. {quote} Even if users refuse to read this and simply select the fist link to download, they would get the binary distribution. So what's causing the confusion? > Download and Install documentation is unclear > --------------------------------------------- > > Key: MNGSITE-290 > URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNGSITE-290 > Project: Maven Project Web Site > Issue Type: Bug > Environment: Windows 10 > Reporter: Daniel Stone > Priority: Minor > Labels: Installation, Maven > Original Estimate: 1h > Remaining Estimate: 1h > > The maven installation documentation says to add "C:\Program > Files\apache-maven-3.3.9\bin" to your path. However, this directory does not > exist in the most recent version. > UPDATE: Got this figured out, but the documentation is still unclear. When I > tried to run maven, I got the mysterious error, "Could not find or load main > class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher". After about an hour > of googling, I found a stack overflow post that related to the binaries. > Turns out you need to download the binaries zip file and not the source one. > As a user, the website is unclear on which to download. It doesn't say either > way, and it didn't register to me that I needed a particular one. To make it > even worse, maven appears to partially run when you try it with the src > package. As a user, this has been a very frustrating experience. It would be > helpful if the binary files were highlighted, and the src files were put in a > separate container further down the page, or at least add a note saying which > ones you need to download. Most people probably don't care about the source. > There's a stackoverflow issue for the error I got when trying to run maven > from the source instead of the binaries, so this is a common issue for other > people as well. > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11118237/maven-error-could-not-find-or-load-main-class-org-codehaus-plexus-classworlds-l > Also, in the installation documentation, it would be helpful to tell users to > download the binaries, and add a note saying something like, "If your > unzipped package does not contain a bin directory, you've downloaded the > wrong package. Please go download the binaries zip file instead. " > It's a simple thing, but this has made me not want to use Maven just from the > difficulty of getting it set up. It would be great if you guys had an > installer, but at the very least, could you update the docs to be more user > friendly? It would take a minimum of effort and it would improve your > perceived user experience a lot. -- This message was sent by Atlassian JIRA (v6.3.4#6332)