Why is the Maven javafx plugin failing to run the test project

I am trying to follow this tutorial to set a Maven JavaFX project in IntelliJ https://openjfx.io/openjfx-docs/#maven (IntelliJ non-modular with Maven) but it fails whatever I do.

I have been trying a lot of internet advice. I tried setting VM variables in the pom, I made sure JAVA_HOME is pointing to my JDK 12 directory, and I checked that in the project structure the JDK is correctly set.

This is my pom file:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion> <groupId>asterion</groupId> <artifactId>exitpoll</artifactId> <packaging>jar</packaging> <version>0.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version> <properties> <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding> <maven.compiler.source>12</maven.compiler.source> <maven.compiler.target>12</maven.compiler.target> </properties> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId> <artifactId>javafx-controls</artifactId> <version>12.0.2</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId> <artifactId>javafx-fxml</artifactId> <version>12.0.2</version> </dependency> </dependencies> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.8.1</version> <configuration> <source>12</source> <target>12</target> <release>12</release> </configuration> </plugin> <plugin> <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId> <artifactId>javafx-maven-plugin</artifactId> <version>0.0.3</version> <configuration> <source>12</source> <target>12</target> <release>12</release> <mainClass>asterion.App</mainClass> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project> 

and this is the output:

"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-12.0.2\bin\java.exe" -Dmaven.multiModuleProjectDirectory=D:\exitpoll "-Dmaven.home=L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\plugins\maven\lib\maven3" "-Dclassworlds.conf=L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\plugins\maven\lib\maven3\bin\m2.conf" "-Dmaven.ext.class.path=L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\plugins\maven\lib\maven-event-listener.jar" "-javaagent:L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\lib\idea_rt.jar=61323:L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\bin" -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -classpath "L:\software\IntelliJ IDEA 2019.2\plugins\maven\lib\maven3\boot\plexus-classworlds-2.6.0.jar" org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher -Didea.version2019.2.1 org.openjfx:javafx-maven-plugin:0.0.3:run [IJ]-1-Unknown-[IJ]-event=org.apache.maven.settings.building.DefaultSettingsBuildingRequest@1bdf8190 [IJ]-1-Unknown-[IJ]-event=org.apache.maven.settings.building.DefaultSettingsBuildingResult@50687efb [IJ]-1-Unknown-[IJ]-event=org.apache.maven.toolchain.building.DefaultToolchainsBuildingRequest@56e07a08 [IJ]-1-ProjectDiscoveryStarted-[IJ]-id=unknown [INFO] Scanning for projects... [INFO] [INFO] -------------------------< asterion:exitpoll >-------------------------- [INFO] Building exitpoll 0.1.0-SNAPSHOT [INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]--------------------------------- [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[INFO] [INFO] --- javafx-maven-plugin:0.0.3:run (default-cli) @ exitpoll --- [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache:apache:pom:21-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\apache\apache\21\apache-21.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache:apache:pom:21-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.eclipse.sisu:org.eclipse.sisu.plexus:pom:0.3.3-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\jboss\weld\weld-api-parent\1.0\weld-api-parent-1.0.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.jboss.weld:weld-api-parent:pom:1.0-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-languages:pom:0.9.11-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.ow2.asm:asm:pom:7.0-beta-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\com\thoughtworks\qdox\qdox\2.0-M9\qdox-2.0-M9.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=com.thoughtworks.qdox:qdox:pom:2.0-M9-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\apache\commons\commons-parent\43\commons-parent-43.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache.commons:commons-parent:pom:43-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\codehaus\plexus\plexus-utils\1.5.5\plexus-utils-1.5.5.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils:pom:1.5.5-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache.maven:maven-model-builder:pom:3.0.5-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\codehaus\plexus\plexus\5.1\plexus-5.1.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.codehaus.plexus:plexus:pom:5.1-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\apache\commons\commons-parent\39\commons-parent-39.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache.commons:commons-parent:pom:39-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVING-[IJ]-path=-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.apache:apache:pom:16-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\codehaus\mojo\mojo-parent\34\mojo-parent-34.pom-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.codehaus.mojo:mojo-parent:pom:34-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\codehaus\plexus\plexus-utils\3.1.0\plexus-utils-3.1.0.jar-[IJ]-artifactCoord=org.codehaus.plexus:plexus-utils:jar:3.1.0-[IJ]-error= [IJ]-1-ARTIFACT_RESOLVED-[IJ]-path=C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\com\google\code\findbugs\jsr305\3.0.2\jsr305-3.0.2.jar-[IJ]-artifactCoord=com.google.code.findbugs:jsr305:jar:3.0.2-[IJ]-error= Error occurred during initialization of boot layer java.lang.module.FindException: Error reading module: C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\openjfx\javafx-base\12.0.2\javafx-base-12.0.2-win.jar Caused by: java.lang.module.InvalidModuleDescriptorException: Unsupported major.minor version 55.0 [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:404) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute (DefaultExecutor.java:166) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine (JavaFXBaseMojo.java:491) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine (JavaFXBaseMojo.java:453) at org.openjfx.JavaFXRunMojo.execute (JavaFXRunMojo.java:97) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo (DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:137) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:210) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:156) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:148) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:56) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:128) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:305) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:192) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:105) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:956) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:288) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:192) at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0 (Native Method) at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:567) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:282) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:225) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:406) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:347) at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:47) org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.executeInternal(DefaultExecutor.java:404) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute(DefaultExecutor.java:166) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine(JavaFXBaseMojo.java:491) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine(JavaFXBaseMojo.java:453) at org.openjfx.JavaFXRunMojo.execute(JavaFXRunMojo.java:97) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:137) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:210) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:156) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:148) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:56) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:128) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:305) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:192) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:105) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:956) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:288) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:192) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:567) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:282) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:225) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:406) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:347) at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:47) [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] BUILD FAILURE [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Total time: 1.009 s [INFO] Finished at: 2019-08-25T22:03:42+01:00 [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.openjfx:javafx-maven-plugin:0.0.3:run (default-cli) on project exitpoll: Error: 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 [INFO] [INFO] -------------------------< asterion:exitpoll >-------------------------- [INFO] Building exitpoll 0.1.0-SNAPSHOT [INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]--------------------------------- [INFO] [INFO] --- javafx-maven-plugin:0.0.3:run (default-cli) @ exitpoll --- Error occurred during initialization of boot layer java.lang.module.FindException: Error reading module: C:\Users\***\.m2\repository\org\openjfx\javafx-base\12.0.2\javafx-base-12.0.2-win.jar Caused by: java.lang.module.InvalidModuleDescriptorException: Unsupported major.minor version 55.0 [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:404) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute (DefaultExecutor.java:166) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine (JavaFXBaseMojo.java:491) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine (JavaFXBaseMojo.java:453) at org.openjfx.JavaFXRunMojo.execute (JavaFXRunMojo.java:97) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo (DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:137) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:210) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:156) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute (MojoExecutor.java:148) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject (LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build (SingleThreadedBuilder.java:56) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute (LifecycleStarter.java:128) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:305) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute (DefaultMaven.java:192) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute (DefaultMaven.java:105) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute (MavenCli.java:956) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain (MavenCli.java:288) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main (MavenCli.java:192) at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0 (Native Method) at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke (DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java:567) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced (Launcher.java:282) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch (Launcher.java:225) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode (Launcher.java:406) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:347) at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main (Launcher.java:47) org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.executeInternal(DefaultExecutor.java:404) at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute(DefaultExecutor.java:166) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine(JavaFXBaseMojo.java:491) at org.openjfx.JavaFXBaseMojo.executeCommandLine(JavaFXBaseMojo.java:453) at org.openjfx.JavaFXRunMojo.execute(JavaFXRunMojo.java:97) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:137) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:210) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:156) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:148) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:56) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:128) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:305) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:192) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:105) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:956) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:288) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:192) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:567) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:282) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:225) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:406) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:347) at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:47) 

As José Pereda indicates, the important error message is java.lang.module.InvalidModuleDescriptorException: Unsupported major.minor version 55.0