Gui does not start when project has old Java version

[hohwille]

Actual behavior

$ide gui
...
Error: LinkageError occurred while loading main class com.devonfw.ide.gui.AppLauncher
        java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/devonfw/ide/gui/AppLauncher has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 65.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 61.0
[ERROR] Command execution failed.
org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1)
    at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.executeInternal (DefaultExecutor.java:408)
    at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute (DefaultExecutor.java:306)
    at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.executeCommandLine (ExecMojo.java:913)
    at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.executeCommandLine (ExecMojo.java:873)
    at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.execute (ExecMojo.java:464)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo (DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:126)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.doExecute2 (MojoExecutor.java:328)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.doExecute (MojoExecutor.java:316)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:212)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:174)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.access$000 (MojoExecutor.java:75)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor$1.run (MojoExecutor.java:162)
    at org.apache.maven.buildcache.BuildCacheMojosExecutionStrategy.execute (BuildCacheMojosExecutionStrategy.java:145)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:159)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:105)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:73)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:53)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:118)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:261)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:173)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:101)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:906)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:283)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:206)
    at jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke (DirectMethodHandleAccessor.java:104)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:565)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:255)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:201)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:361)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:314)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time:  9.949 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-05-21T17:07:30+02:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:3.6.3:exec (default-cli) on project ide-gui-launcher: Command execution failed.: Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1) -> [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
Running command 'D:\projects\project\workspaces\main\project\mvnw.cmd' with arguments '-f' 'D:\projects\_ide\installation\gui\pom.xml' 'exec:exec' '-Dexec.executable=java' '-Dexec.classpathScope=compile' '-Dexec.args=-classpath %classpath com.devonfw.ide.gui.AppLauncher'
failed with exit code 1!

Reproduce

1. icd -P test (or ide create test)
2. ide install java 8*
3. ide gui

Expected behavior

Gui should show up

IDEasy status

IDE_ROOT is set to D:/projects
IDE_HOME is set to D:/projects/project
Your version of IDEasy is 2026.05.001-05_19_03-SNAPSHOT.
You are using a SNAPSHOT version of IDEasy. For stability consider switching to a stable release via 'ide upgrade --mode=stable'
Your version of IDEasy is 2026.05.001-05_19_03-SNAPSHOT but version 2026.05.001-20260520.032326-18 is available. Please run the following command to upgrade to the latest version:
ide upgrade
Your operating system is windows(10.0)@x64 [Windows 11@amd64]
You are online.
Found bash executable at: C:/Program Files/Git/usr/bin/bash.***
Found git executable at: C:/Program Files/Git/mingw64/bin/git.***

Related/Dependent issues

#1724

Comments/Hints

I expected that we install Java with version range [25,) and provide a process context with the installation request.
However, the problem seems to be that we run maven that again needs Java and this leads to the project maven being used so the JAVA_HOME setting seems to be lost and maven is using the projects Java version.

[laim2003]

Seems like this works:

1. We create a ToolInstallRequest for Maven
2. We set the same process context as for the java tool
3. Then maven seems to use the correct version

[laim2003]

Seems like this works:

1. We create a ToolInstallRequest for Maven

2. We set the same process context as for the java tool

3. Then maven seems to use the correct version

doesnt work. What we can do however: Install maven first, and then update the java version to 25.