Establishing a Specific Java Environment for Maven

Maven leverages the JAVA_HOME environment variable to determine the Java version it should use. Following the scenario where you have multiple Java versions installed and specifically require Maven to utilize Java 1.7 while it currently defaults to Java 1.6, here are two approaches:

Modifying JAVA_HOME Dynamically

You can temporarily adjust the JAVA_HOME variable to point to Java 1.7 before executing Maven and revert it later:

1. Set JAVA_HOME to the directory of Java 1.7:

   export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/jdk1.7

2. Run Maven:

   mvn ...

Editing the Maven Configuration File

Alternatively, you can alter the Maven configuration file to explicitly specify the Java version:

1. Locate and open the Maven configuration file:

   - Linux/Mac: ~/.m2/mvn.config
   - Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.m2\mvn.config

2. Add the following line to the file:

   /path/to/jdk1.7

3. Save and close the file.