Error: plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler

Question

I am trying to create .refaster rules using Google Error Prone library for my project.

My project is using Maven & JDK 17 and has the following pom.xml:

   <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
            <artifactId>error_prone_refaster</artifactId>
            <version>2.23.0</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.11.0</version>
                <configuration>
                    <release>17</release>
                    <compilerArgs>
                        <arg>-Xplugin:RefasterRuleCompiler --out ${project.basedir}/../emptystring.refaster</arg>
                    </compilerArgs>
                    <annotationProcessorPaths>
                        <path>
                            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
                            <artifactId>error_prone_core</artifactId>
                            <version>2.23.0</version>
                        </path>
                    </annotationProcessorPaths>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

When I'm executing the command mvn clean install, the following error is thrown:

Compilation failure
plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler

Also, I have added the following configuration in the .mvn/jvm.config to run with JDK 17 like indicated in the official documentation:

--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.api=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.file=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.main=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.model=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.parser=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.processing=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.tree=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-exports jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.util=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-opens jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.code=ALL-UNNAMED
--add-opens jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.comp=ALL-UNNAMED

Note: I started a project with Error Prone Core before also and I have succeeded to run with JDK 17 but when I try to run the project with Error Prone Refaster, it's failing.

Also, I set the JAVA_HOME to JDK 17 and tried running the project from the terminal, the error still persisted.

How to fix this?

Answer 1

Found the issue. Please read the docs properly.

I followed the Official Docs from Google Error Prone here.

Couple of things need to be fixed.

• Firstly, you will need to add error_prone_refaster dependency in your annotationProcessorPaths to make the plugin work.

This will fix the error: Error: plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler.

Note: This was not mentioned in the docs. I had to do hit and trial method to get to the solution.

Otherwise, you will face Error: plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler if you don't add error_prone_refaster dependency to the annotationProcessorPaths:

➜  maven-error-prone-test git:(master) ✗ mvn clean install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] -----------------< org.example:maven-error-prone-test >-----------------
[INFO] Building maven-error-prone-test 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Deleting /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.6:resources (default-resources) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
[INFO] Copying 1 resource
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.10.1:compile (default-compile) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target/classes
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] COMPILATION ERROR : 
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] error: plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler
[INFO] 1 error
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  1.526 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2023-10-26T20:45:15+05:30
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:3.10.1:compile (default-compile) on project maven-error-prone-test: Compilation failure
[ERROR] error: plug-in not found: RefasterRuleCompiler
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] -> [Help 1]
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureException

So, it's mandatory to add it.

• In the RefasterRuleCompiler plugin, you will need to pass the Refaster Rule/Template class. For example: If you have created a template class called StringIsEmpty.java, then you have to pass it to RefasterRuleCompiler plugin to generate the necessary .refaster file for you.

I saw that you missed to do it. So, fix this please.

Example on how I did:

<arg>-Xplugin:RefasterRuleCompiler --out ${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/refaster_files/emptystring.refaster ${project.basedir}/src/main/org/example/StringIsEmpty.java</arg>  

---

Scratch Project for demonstration:

Project Structure (Before running mvn clean install):

StringIsEmpty.java (example code taken from Google Error Prone):

package org.example;

import com.google.errorprone.refaster.annotation.AfterTemplate;
import com.google.errorprone.refaster.annotation.AlsoNegation;
import com.google.errorprone.refaster.annotation.BeforeTemplate;

public class StringIsEmpty {
    @BeforeTemplate
    boolean equalsEmptyString(String string) {
        return string.equals("");
    }

    @BeforeTemplate
    boolean lengthEquals0(String string) {
        return string.length() == 0;
    }

    @AfterTemplate
    @AlsoNegation
    boolean optimizedMethod(String string) {
        return string.isEmpty();
    }
}

Working pom.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>org.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-error-prone-test</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <error-prone.version>2.23.0</error-prone.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.errorprone/error_prone_core -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
            <artifactId>error_prone_core</artifactId>
            <version>${error-prone.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.errorprone/error_prone_refaster -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
            <artifactId>error_prone_refaster</artifactId>
            <version>${error-prone.version}</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.10.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>17</source>
                    <target>17</target>
                    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
                    <fork>true</fork>
                    <compilerArgs>
                        <arg>-Xplugin:RefasterRuleCompiler --out ${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/refaster_files/emptystring.refaster ${project.basedir}/src/main/org/example/StringIsEmpty.java</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.api=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.file=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.main=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.model=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.parser=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.processing=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.tree=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.util=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-opens=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.code=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        <arg>-J--add-opens=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.comp=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                    </compilerArgs>
                    <annotationProcessorPaths>
                        <path>
                            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
                            <artifactId>error_prone_refaster</artifactId>
                            <version>${error-prone.version}</version>
                        </path>
                        <path>
                            <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
                            <artifactId>error_prone_core</artifactId>
                            <version>${error-prone.version}</version>
                        </path>
                    </annotationProcessorPaths>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

mvn clean install success logs:

➜  maven-error-prone-test git:(master) ✗ mvn clean install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] 
[INFO] -----------------< org.example:maven-error-prone-test >-----------------
[INFO] Building maven-error-prone-test 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Deleting /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.6:resources (default-resources) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
[INFO] Copying 0 resource
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.10.1:compile (default-compile) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target/classes
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.6:testResources (default-testResources) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/src/test/resources
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.10.1:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-surefire-plugin:2.12.4:test (default-test) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-jar-plugin:2.4:jar (default-jar) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Building jar: /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target/maven-error-prone-test-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-install-plugin:2.4:install (default-install) @ maven-error-prone-test ---
[INFO] Installing /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/target/maven-error-prone-test-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar to /Users/anish/.m2/repository/org/example/maven-error-prone-test/1.0-SNAPSHOT/maven-error-prone-test-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
[INFO] Installing /Users/anish/maven-error-prone-test/pom.xml to /Users/anish/.m2/repository/org/example/maven-error-prone-test/1.0-SNAPSHOT/maven-error-prone-test-1.0-SNAPSHOT.pom
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  2.502 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2023-10-26T20:39:21+05:30
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Project Structure (after running mvn clean install):

As you can see the .refaster file was generated :)