aspectj-maven-plugin can not compile valid Java-7.0-Code

I stumbled over a valid construction, that can not be compiled by the aspectj-maven-plugin:

class Outer
{
  void outer(Inner inner)
  {
  }

  class Inner
  {
    Outer outer;

    void inner()
    {
      outer.outer(this);
    }
  }
}

This code might look very useless. Originally, it Inner was a Thread, that wants to signal its enclosing class, that it has finished some work. I just striped down all other code, that was not needed, to trigger the error.

If you put the class Outer in a maven-project and configure the aspectj-maven-plugin to weave this class with compliance-level 1.6, you will get the following error:

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:aspectj-maven-plugin:1.6:compile (default-cli) on project shouter: Compiler errors:
[ERROR] error at outer.inner(this);
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] /home/kai/juplo/shouter/src/main/java/Outer.java:16:0::0 The method inner(Outer.Inner) is undefined for the type Outer
[ERROR] error at queue.done(this, System.currentTimeMillis() - start);
[ERROR] 

The normal compilation works, because the class is syntactically correct Java-7.0-Code. But the AspectJ-Compiler (Version 1.7.4) bundeled with the aspectj-maven-pluign will fail!

Fortunately, I found out, how to use the aspectj-maven-plugin with AspectJ 1.8.3.

So, if you have a similar problem, read on…