maven "cannot find symbol" message unhelpful
update to 3.1 :
<plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.1</version> <configuration> <source>1.7</source> <target>1.7</target> </configuration></plugin>
In my case the problem was in a child jar which was not rebuilt since I have added a new class, pom.xml of that child jar was not related to my failed pom.xml as child-to-parent relation (using <parent> tag). So I rebuilt the child jar after which the error had gone.