The parameter 'executable' is missing or invalid

[tanhuang2016]

https://github.com/graalvm/native-build-tools/blob/master/samples/java-application-with-resources/pom.xml

Why does an error occur when executing a command using the official example

-Pnative -Dagent=true -DskipTests -DskipNativeBuild=true package exec:exec@java-agent

[INFO] Building jar: C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\native-build-tools-master\native-build-tools-master\samples\java-application-with-resources\target\maven-app-with-tests.jar
[INFO]
[INFO] --- native:0.11.2:merge-agent-files (build-native) @ maven-app-with-tests ---
[INFO]
[INFO] --- native:0.11.2:generateResourceConfig (build-native) @ maven-app-with-tests ---
[INFO] Resources configuration written into C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\native-build-tools-master\native-build-tools-master\samples\java-application-with-resources\target\native\generated\generateResourceConfig\resource-config.json
[INFO]
[INFO] --- native:0.11.2:compile-no-fork (build-native) @ maven-app-with-tests ---
[INFO] Skipping native-image generation (parameter 'skipNativeBuild' is true).
[INFO]
[INFO] --- exec:3.0.0:exec (java-agent) @ maven-app-with-tests ---
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 3.889 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2025-10-27T22:27:45+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:3.0.0:exec (java-agent) on project maven-app-with-tests: The parameter 'executable' is missing or invalid -> [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/MojoExecutionException

[vjovanov]

@tanhuang2016 thank you for reporting!

Can you please enable full debug fogging as the error suggested and run your original command with -X?This will dump a lot of text, but look at the lines immediately preceding the "BUILD FAILURE".

mvn -Pnative -Dagent=true -DskipTests -DskipNativeBuild=true package exec:exec@java-agent -X

@jormundur00 can you check if we run this example in our CI?

[jormundur00]

@vjovanov We do run this example in the CI (an example being this job), but we run it with exec:exec@native (per JavaApplicationWithResourcesFunctionalTest.groovy).

@tanhuang2016 exec@java-agent is not defined by default in the samples. The only sample that includes it is samples/java-application-with-reflection. The very two lines above the screenshot of the document you posted explains that you need to add it manually (copying the execution from java-application-with-reflection to your projects/samples pom.xml should work) if you want to execute the application with the agent.