Maven Installation OSX Error Unsupported major.minor version 51.0

I installed maven by following this steps:(a tutorial)

JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home
export M2_HOME=/Users/steven/zimmermann/maven
export M2=$M2_HOME/bin
export PATH=$M2:$PATH

echo $JAVA_HOME
echo $M2_HOME
echo $M2
echo $PATH

nano .bash_profile

then I wrote the echo in the .bash_profile sth like this:

JAVA_HOME=/usr/libexec/java_home
M2_HOME=/path/to/your/apache-maven-3.x.x
M2=/path/to/your/apache-maven-3.x.x/bin
PATH=/path/to/maven/bin:/$….bla-bla-bla…

and also I wrote this in the .bashrc

export M2_HOME=/Users/steven/zimmermann/maven
export M2=$M2_HOME/bin
export PATH=$M2:$PATH

now when I want to check the version (mvn -v) I get the following exception: I think there are some versions wrong, but I don't know.

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/apache/maven/cli/MavenCli : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(ClassLoader.java:637)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:621)
	at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:141)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:283)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:58)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:197)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
	at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClassFromSelf(ClassRealm.java:401)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.strategy.SelfFirstStrategy.loadClass(SelfFirstStrategy.java:42)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.unsynchronizedLoadClass(ClassRealm.java:271)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:254)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.realm.ClassRealm.loadClass(ClassRealm.java:239)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.getMainClass(Launcher.java:144)
	at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:266)
	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)

Additional information:

java -version

> java version "1.8.0_40" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_40-b27) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.40-b25, mixed mode)

javac -version

> javac 1.8.0_40

The problem is because you haven't set JAVA_HOME in Mac properly. In order to do that, you should do set it like this:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_40.jdk/Contents/Home

In my case my JDK installation is jdk1.8.0_40, make sure you type yours.

Then you can use maven commands.

Regards!

Please rather try:

$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version

Maven uses $JAVA_HOME for classpath resolution of JRE libs. To be sure to use a certain JDK, set it explicitly before compiling, for example:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jdk1.7.0_51

Isn't there a version < 1.7 and you're using Maven 3.3.1? In this case the reason is a new prerequisite: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNG-5780

A dynamic $HOME/.zshrc solution, if you're like me ie. Linux @ work; MBP/A @ home

if [[ $(uname) == "Darwin" ]]; then export OSX=1; fi
if [[ $(uname) ==  "Linux" ]]; then export LINUX=1; fi

if [[ -n $OSX ]]; then
        export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)
else
        export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/default-java
fi

I solved it putting a old version of maven (2.x), using brew:

brew uninstall maven
brew tap homebrew/versions 
brew install maven2

In Eclipse, you don't need to change JAVA_HOME, you just need to change the run configuration for Maven to something above 1.6 (even if your project is on Java 6, Maven shouldn't be). Right-click the project, choose Maven Build or Run As > Run Configurations and set the correct JDK version.

Do this in your .profile -

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`

(backticks make sure to execute the command and place its value in JAVA_HOME)