Maven says I have a cyclic reference in multi-module project but can't figure out why

Question

I have a multi-module project that looks like this:

• module1
  • pom.xml
• module2
  • pom.xml
• pom.xml

The pom.xml in module2 has a dependency on module1.

When I run mvn clean compile I get the following error:

The projects in the reactor contain a cyclic reference.

Here are my dependencies in module1:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.14</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
        <version>1.6.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.jcraft</groupId>
        <artifactId>jsch</artifactId>
        <version>0.1.48</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

I can't figure out why it says there is a cyclic reference. Even when I do mvn dependency:tree on module1 I get the following:

[INFO] +- log4j:log4j:jar:1.2.14:compile
[INFO] +- org.slf4j:slf4j-log4j12:jar:1.6.1:compile
[INFO] |  \- org.slf4j:slf4j-api:jar:1.6.1:compile
[INFO] +- com.jcraft:jsch:jar:0.1.48:compile
[INFO] \- junit:junit:jar:4.8.2:test

It looks to me like there aren't any references to module2 in module1. So where is the cyclic reference coming from?

Edit: Here is the log with debug on:

+ Error stacktraces are turned on.
Apache Maven 2.2.1 (r801777; 2009-08-06 15:16:01-0400)
Java version: 1.6.0_31
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: Cp1252
OS name: "windows 7" version: "6.1" arch: "amd64" Family: "windows"
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] The projects in the reactor contain a cyclic reference: Edge between 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module2'}' and 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module1'}' introduces to cycle in the graph com.myorg:module1 --> com.myorg:module2 --> com.myorg:module1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DEBUG] Trace
org.apache.maven.BuildFailureException: The projects in the reactor contain a cyclic reference: Edge between 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module2'}' and 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module1'}' introduces to cycle in the graph com.myorg:module1 --> com.myorg:module2 --> com.myorg:module1
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:295)
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: hidden.org.codehaus.plexus.util.dag.CycleDetectedException: Edge between 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module2'}' and 'Vertex{label='com.myorg:module1'}' introduces to cycle in the graph com.myorg:module1 --> com.myorg:module2 --> com.myorg:module1
at hidden.org.codehaus.plexus.util.dag.DAG.addEdge(DAG.java:143)
at hidden.org.codehaus.plexus.util.dag.DAG.addEdge(DAG.java:123)
at org.apache.maven.project.ProjectSorter.<init>(ProjectSorter.java:118)
at org.apache.maven.execution.ReactorManager.<init>(ReactorManager.java:99)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:288)
... 11 more
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: < 1 second
[INFO] Finished at: Thu Jul 05 17:21:21 EDT 2012    
[INFO] Final Memory: 3M/244M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer 1

Ah! It was a misleading error.

The problem wasn't that there both module1 and module2 depended on each other. The problem was that module2 is a Maven plugin and in my root pom.xml I had the plugin in the section. I removed that plugin from the build and it started working.