[FIXED] maven error BUILD FAILURE

Issue

I am following a maven tutorial. I am trying to execute this command which is my 1st maven command. Tutorial says it will crate a directory named my-app, but it didn't. This is command & its output, command:

mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.mycompany.app -DartifactId=my-app -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false

output:

C:\Users\Babar>mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.mycompany.app -DartifactId=m
y-app -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building Maven Stub Project (No POM) 1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] >>> maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom >>
>
[INFO]
[INFO] <<< maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom <<
<
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom --
-
[INFO] Generating project in Batch mode
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
[INFO] Using following parameters for creating project from Old (1.x) Archetype:
 maven-archetype-quickstart:1.0
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
[INFO] Parameter: groupId, Value: com.mycompany.app
[INFO] Parameter: packageName, Value: com.mycompany.app
[INFO] Parameter: package, Value: com.mycompany.app
[INFO] Parameter: artifactId, Value: my-app
[INFO] Parameter: basedir, Value: C:\Users\Babar
[INFO] Parameter: version, Value: 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 22.971s
[INFO] Finished at: Fri Nov 18 00:07:12 EET 2011
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/11M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:2
.1:generate (default-cli) on project standalone-pom: Directory my-app already ex
ists - please run from a clean directory -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e swit
ch.
[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 rea
d the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureExc
eption
'cmd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

error msg says directory already exists but it's not. I execute this command more than oncw

EDIT

command(suggested in answer)

mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.maven.archet
    ypes -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DarchetypeVersion=5-SNAPS
    HOT

OUTPUT

C:\Users\Babar>mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.maven.archet
ypes -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DarchetypeVersion=5-SNAPS
HOT
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building Maven Stub Project (No POM) 1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] >>> maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom >>
>
[INFO]
[INFO] <<< maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom <<
<
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-archetype-plugin:2.1:generate (default-cli) @ standalone-pom --
-
[INFO] Generating project in Interactive mode
[INFO] Archetype repository missing. Using the one from [org.apache.maven.archet
ypes:maven-archetype-quickstart:1.1] found in catalog remote
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 5.552s
[INFO] Finished at: Fri Nov 18 01:09:15 EET 2011
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/12M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:2
.1:generate (default-cli) on project standalone-pom: The desired archetype does
not exist (org.apache.maven.archetypes:maven-archetype-quickstart:5-SNAPSHOT) ->
 [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e swit
ch.
[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 rea
d the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureExc
eption
'cmd' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Solution

You will note that the original error said

Directory my-app already exists - please run from a clean directory

Did you possibly run that command from a directory where there is already a Maven project (one with a pom.xml file)? If so please start with a clean location.

When I ran the command you used verbatim on an empty directory, it ran without error and created a directory called my-app.

Answered By - Sri Sankaran