Maven can't get dependency information, although jar is in place

Question

During building of my project I get the following error from Ant/Maven:

BUILD FAILED
C:\Users\kmilyutin\git\siamprofiler\classpath.build.xml:41: The following error occurred while executing this line:
C:\Users\kmilyutin\git\siamprofiler\classpath.build.xml:33: Unable to resolve artifact: Unable to get dependency information: Unable to read the metadata file for artifact 'commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar': Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0 for project commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0
  commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0

At the same time, files associated with commons-beanutils are in the repository:C:\Users\kmilyutin\.m2\repository\commons-beanutils\commons-beanutils\1.8.0 Could someone help to solve this issue?

UPDATE: I tried to remove directory .m2\repository\commons-beanutils\ and to build again. Maven gave me the same error, but there are now just 2 files in the 1.8.0\ directory: commons-beanutils-1.8.0.pom and commons-beanutils-1.8.0.pom.sha1. The jar file is missing for whatever reason, although I can find it in the central Maven repository.

Here is the debug output:

BUILD FAILED
C:\Users\kmilyutin\git\siamprofiler\classpath.build.xml:41: The following error occurred while executing this line:
C:\Users\kmilyutin\git\siamprofiler\classpath.build.xml:33: Unable to resolve artifact: Unable to get dependency information: Unable to read the metadata file for artifact 'commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar': Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0 for project commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0
  commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0

from the specified remote repositories:
  central (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2),
  maven2-repository.dev.java.net (http://download.java.net/maven/2/),
  jboss-public-repository-group (https://repository.jboss.org/nexus/content/groups/public/)

Path to dependency: 
    1) com.sivis:siamprofiler:war:2.7.3-SNAPSHOT
    2) org.richfaces.framework:richfaces-api:jar:3.3.5-SNAPSHOT


    at org.apache.maven.artifact.ant.DependenciesTask.doExecuteResolution(DependenciesTask.java:268)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.ant.DependenciesTask.doExecute(DependenciesTask.java:168)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.ant.AbstractArtifactTask.execute(AbstractArtifactTask.java:751)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.UnknownElement.execute(UnknownElement.java:291)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor4.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.dispatch.DispatchUtils.execute(DispatchUtils.java:106)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Task.perform(Task.java:348)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Sequential.execute(Sequential.java:68)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.UnknownElement.execute(UnknownElement.java:291)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor4.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.dispatch.DispatchUtils.execute(DispatchUtils.java:106)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Task.perform(Task.java:348)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.MacroInstance.execute(MacroInstance.java:398)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.UnknownElement.execute(UnknownElement.java:291)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor4.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.dispatch.DispatchUtils.execute(DispatchUtils.java:106)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Task.perform(Task.java:348)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Target.execute(Target.java:390)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Target.performTasks(Target.java:411)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeSortedTargets(Project.java:1399)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeTarget(Project.java:1368)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.helper.DefaultExecutor.executeTargets(DefaultExecutor.java:41)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeTargets(Project.java:1251)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Main.runBuild(Main.java:809)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.Main.startAnt(Main.java:217)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher.run(Launcher.java:280)
    at org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:109)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolutionException: Unable to get dependency information: Unable to read the metadata file for artifact 'commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar': Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0 for project commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0
  commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0

from the specified remote repositories:
  central (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2),
  maven2-repository.dev.java.net (http://download.java.net/maven/2/),
  jboss-public-repository-group (https://repository.jboss.org/nexus/content/groups/public/)

Path to dependency: 
    1) com.sivis:siamprofiler:war:2.7.3-SNAPSHOT
    2) org.richfaces.framework:richfaces-api:jar:3.3.5-SNAPSHOT


    at org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.DefaultArtifactCollector.recurse(DefaultArtifactCollector.java:430)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.DefaultArtifactCollector.recurse(DefaultArtifactCollector.java:435)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.DefaultArtifactCollector.collect(DefaultArtifactCollector.java:74)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.DefaultArtifactResolver.resolveTransitively(DefaultArtifactResolver.java:316)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.ant.DependenciesTask.doExecuteResolution(DependenciesTask.java:263)
    ... 32 more
Caused by: org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ArtifactMetadataRetrievalException: Unable to read the metadata file for artifact 'commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar': Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0 for project commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0
    at org.apache.maven.project.artifact.MavenMetadataSource.retrieveRelocatedProject(MavenMetadataSource.java:200)
    at org.apache.maven.project.artifact.MavenMetadataSource.retrieveRelocatedArtifact(MavenMetadataSource.java:94)
    at org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.DefaultArtifactCollector.recurse(DefaultArtifactCollector.java:387)
    ... 36 more
Caused by: org.apache.maven.project.ProjectBuildingException: Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0 for project commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.assembleLineage(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:1396)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.buildInternal(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:823)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.buildFromRepository(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:255)
    at org.apache.maven.project.artifact.MavenMetadataSource.retrieveRelocatedProject(MavenMetadataSource.java:163)
    ... 38 more
Caused by: org.apache.maven.project.InvalidProjectModelException: Parse error reading POM. Reason: end tag not allowed in epilog but got / (position: END_TAG seen ...</properties>\r\n\r\n</project>\r\n   </... @639:6)  for project org.apache.commons:commons-parent at C:\Users\kmilyutin\.m2\repository\org\apache\commons\commons-parent\11\commons-parent-11.pom
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.readModel(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:1610)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.readModel(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:1571)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.findModelFromRepository(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:562)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.assembleLineage(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:1392)
    ... 41 more
Caused by: org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.XmlPullParserException: end tag not allowed in epilog but got / (position: END_TAG seen ...</properties>\r\n\r\n</project>\r\n   </... @639:6) 
    at org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.MXParser.parseEpilog(MXParser.java:1594)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.MXParser.nextImpl(MXParser.java:1405)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.MXParser.next(MXParser.java:1105)
    at org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Reader.parseModel(MavenXpp3Reader.java:2133)
    at org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Reader.read(MavenXpp3Reader.java:3912)
    at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.readModel(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:1606)
    ... 44 more

Total time: 5 seconds

Here is part of classpath.build.xml (line 33 is artifact:dependencies tag):

<target name="resolve-dependencies" depends="checkTimestamps,mvn-configure"
            unless="${dependencies-resolved}">
        <macrodef name="resolve-scoped-dependencies" xmlns:artifact="urn:maven-artifact-ant">
            <attribute name="scope" />
            <sequential>
                <artifact:dependencies pathId="@{scope}.classpath" filesetId="@{scope}.fileset" useScope="@{scope}" >
                    <pom refid="maven.project" />
                    <localRepository refid="local.repository" />
                </artifact:dependencies>
                <pathconvert property="@{scope}.p" refid="@{scope}.fileset" pathsep="," />
                <echo file="target/@{scope}.fileset.txt">${@{scope}.p}</echo>
            </sequential>
        </macrodef>
        <resolve-scoped-dependencies scope="compile" />
        <resolve-scoped-dependencies scope="runtime" />
        <resolve-scoped-dependencies scope="provided" />
        <resolve-scoped-dependencies scope="system" />
        <resolve-scoped-dependencies scope="test" />
    </target>

Answer 1

It says the reason in the message:

Cannot find parent: org.apache.commons:commons-parent for project: commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:jar:1.8.0

To be able to figure out the dependencies, maven not only needs the actual artifact metadata, but dependent metadata as well. That's what you're missing.

Since the commons-parent 11 required by commons-beanutils 1.8 is in maven central repo, a retry with proper network connection to maven central should fix this.

However, if it does not, post the full output with debug turned on (mvn -X).

---

Edit: now with debug output, we can see that

C:\Users\kmilyutin.m2\repository\org\apache\commons\commons-parent\11\commons-parent-11.pom

is broken:

org.apache.maven.project.InvalidProjectModelException: Parse error reading POM.
Reason: end tag not allowed in epilog but got / (position: END_TAG seen ...</properties>\r\n\r\n</project>\r\n   </... @639:6)
for project org.apache.commons:commons-parent
at C:\Users\kmilyutin\.m2\repository\org\apache\commons\commons-parent\11\commons-parent-11.pom

As a first action, remove that file from your local repo in the path given in the message and retry the build.