Seems I misunderstood version info. Nevertheless, configuration options from example seem not to be applicable to current version of maven-jar-plugin - problem with example is [1] when [2].
[1] failed build trace snippet
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Failed to configure plugin parameters for: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-jar-plugin:2.2
Cause: Cannot find setter nor field in org.apache.maven.archiver.ManifestConfiguration for 'classpathLayoutType'
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Error configuring: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-jar-plugin. Reason: Unable to parse the created DOM for plugin configuration
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:723)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalWithLifecycle(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:556)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:535)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:348)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:138)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)
at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:60)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)
at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginConfigurationException: Error configuring: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-jar-plugin. Reason: Unable to parse the created DOM for plugin configuration
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.populatePluginFields(DefaultPluginManager.java:1363)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.getConfiguredMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:724)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:468)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)
... 17 more
Caused by: org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.ComponentConfigurationException: Cannot find setter nor field in org.apache.maven.archiver.ManifestConfiguration for 'classpathLayoutType'
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.ComponentValueSetter.<init>(ComponentValueSetter.java:68)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.composite.ObjectWithFieldsConverter.processConfiguration(ObjectWithFieldsConverter.java:134)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.composite.ObjectWithFieldsConverter.fromConfiguration(ObjectWithFieldsConverter.java:90)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.ComponentValueSetter.configure(ComponentValueSetter.java:207)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.composite.ObjectWithFieldsConverter.processConfiguration(ObjectWithFieldsConverter.java:137)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.composite.ObjectWithFieldsConverter.fromConfiguration(ObjectWithFieldsConverter.java:90)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.ComponentValueSetter.configure(ComponentValueSetter.java:247)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.converters.composite.ObjectWithFieldsConverter.processConfiguration(ObjectWithFieldsConverter.java:137)
at org.codehaus.plexus.component.configurator.BasicComponentConfigurator.configureComponent(BasicComponentConfigurator.java:56)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.populatePluginFields(DefaultPluginManager.java:1357)
... 20 more
[2] maven-jar-plugin:2.2 configuration
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<mainClass>foo.bar.Main</mainClass>
<addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
<classpathLayoutType>repository</classpathLayoutType>
</manifest>
</archive>
</configuration>
</plugin>
The versions that you mention (2.3 and 2.4) are not plugin versions. They are versions of the maven-archiver shared component.
What is wrong with the example?