So I figured out the issue and I was wondering if I could get a little guidance. The javadoc plugin when it executes the javadoc:javadoc goal attempts to determine the version of the VM its running. I suspect its parsing the java.vm.version string. On the platform I'm on, that is different than the expected 1.5.x etc. format. Its actually OS-VERSION-VMVERSION format which causes a NumberFormatException when javadoc is ran the plugin. Is there any reason why it isn't using the java.version System property instead which is more generic across different Java implementations? I had a very similar issue with another plugin (native2ascii) that was assuming certain things about the platform.
Any guidance would be appreciated, -aps -- "What lies behind us and what lies in front of us is of little concern to what lies within us." -Ralph Waldo Emerson