Using Alternate Javadoc Tool

Using Alternate Javadoc Executable

By default, the Maven Javadoc Plugin tries to auto-detect the Javadoc Tool executable from the Java property java.home or from the environment variable JAVA_HOME.

You could also specify the executable of the Javadoc Tool to use with the <javadocExecutable/> parameter. For example:

<project>
 ...
 <reporting> (or <build>)
 <plugins>
 <plugin>
 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
 <version>3.12.0</version>
 <configuration>
 <javadocExecutable>C:\jdk1.6.0\bin\javadoc.exe</javadocExecutable>
 ...
 </configuration>
 </plugin>
 ...
 </plugins>
 </reporting> (or </build>)
 ...
</project>

IMPORTANT NOTE: by using <javadocExecutable/> parameter, the build will be platform dependent! A good practice is to define an environment variable (e.g. JAVA_1.6_HOME), so you could specify it: (e.g. <javadocExecutable>${env.JAVA_1.6_HOME}/bin/javadoc</javadocExecutable>). An other ways is to define a POM property using <project><properties/></project>.

Using Alternate Javadoc Version

In the same way, the Maven Javadoc Plugin tries to auto-detect the Javadoc Tool version by calling javadoc -J-fullversion.

You could also specify the version of the Javadoc Tool executable. For example:

<project>
 ...
 <reporting> (or <build>)
 <plugins>
 <plugin>
 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
 <version>3.12.0</version>
 <configuration>
 <javadocVersion>1.5</javadocVersion>
 ...
 </configuration>
 </plugin>
 ...
 </plugins>
 </reporting> (or </build>)
 ...
</project>

Note: You could have a warning if the javadocVersion specified is not the same that the Javadoc Tool executable.