Maven fails to parse POMs at jenkins

Maven tries to read /root/.jenkins/workspace/testtools as its user settings file (normally under /root/.m2/settings.xml). Since this is a directory, it can't be read.

Check in your Job configuration under Build -> Advanced... -> settings file You seem to have selected Settings in file system without any value. Change this to "Use default maven setting" and you are good.

We had this problem which was caused by a bug in the Jenkins Maven Plugin. Updating to a version above 2.15.1 solved it for us.