[jira] [Commented] (MNGSITE-290) Download and Install documentation is unclear

["Robert Scholte (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNGSITE-290?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=15367952#comment-15367952 ] 

Robert Scholte commented on MNGSITE-290:
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from http://maven.apache.org/download.cgi
{quote}
Files

Maven is distributed in several formats for your convenience. Simply pick a ready-made binary distribution archive and follow the  installation instructions. Use a source archive if you intend to build Maven yourself.

 In order to guard against corrupted downloads/installations, it is highly recommended to verify the signature of the release bundles against the public KEYS used by the Apache Maven developers.
{quote}

Even if users refuse to read this and simply select the fist link to download, they would get the binary distribution.

So what's causing the confusion?

> Download and Install documentation is unclear
> ---------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: MNGSITE-290
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNGSITE-290
>             Project: Maven Project Web Site
>          Issue Type: Bug
>         Environment: Windows 10
>            Reporter: Daniel Stone
>            Priority: Minor
>              Labels: Installation, Maven
>   Original Estimate: 1h
>  Remaining Estimate: 1h
>
> The maven installation documentation says to add "C:\Program Files\apache-maven-3.3.9\bin" to your path. However, this directory does not exist in the most recent version.
> UPDATE: Got this figured out, but the documentation is still unclear. When I tried to run maven, I got the mysterious error, "Could not find or load main class org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher". After about an hour of googling, I found a stack overflow post that related to the binaries. Turns out you need to download the binaries zip file and not the source one. 
> As a user, the website is unclear on which to download. It doesn't say either way, and it didn't register to me that I needed a particular one. To make it even worse, maven appears to partially run when you try it with the src package. As a user, this has been a very frustrating experience. It would be helpful if the binary files were highlighted, and the src files were put in a separate container further down the page, or at least add a note saying which ones you need to download. Most people probably don't care about the source. There's a stackoverflow issue for the error I got when trying to run maven from the source instead of the binaries, so this is a common issue for other people as well. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11118237/maven-error-could-not-find-or-load-main-class-org-codehaus-plexus-classworlds-l
> Also, in the installation documentation, it would be helpful to tell users to download the binaries, and add a note saying something like, "If your unzipped package does not contain a bin directory, you've downloaded the wrong package. Please go download the binaries zip file instead. "
> It's a simple thing, but this has made me not want to use Maven just from the difficulty of getting it set up. It would be great if you guys had an installer, but at the very least, could you update the docs to be more user friendly? It would take a minimum of effort and it would improve your perceived user experience a lot.



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