Could not calculate build plan: Plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.5 or one of its dependencies could not be resolved

I had the exact same problem.

[ERROR] Plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.5 or one of its dependencies could not be resolved: Failed to read artifact descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:jar:2.5: Failure to find org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:pom:2.5 in http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2 was cached in the local repository, resolution will not be reattempted until the update interval of central has elapsed or updates are forced -> [Help 1]
...

Had maven 3.0.5, eclipse Kepler with JBoss Dev Studio 7 installed. Computer sitting on internal network with proxy to the internet. Here's what I did.

0. Check the maven repositiory server is up

1. Check Proxy is set up and working

First I thought it was a proxy problem, I made sure that maven settings.xml contained the proxy settings (settings.xml can exist in two places one in MAVEN_HOME. The other in %userprofile%.m2\ with the later having higher precedence):

<proxy>
  <id>optional</id>
  <active>true</active>
  <protocol>http</protocol>
  <username>optional-proxyuser</username>
  <password>optional-proxypass</password>
  <host>proxy.host.net</host>
  <port>80</port>
  <nonProxyHosts>local.net|some.host.com</nonProxyHosts>
</proxy>

and checked that the proxy is working by trying to telnet to it:

telnet [proxy] [port number]

2. Check not Eclipse Issue

ran 'mvn compile' at command line level outside of eclipse - same issue.

If 'mvn compile' worked. But it doesn't work using the maven plugin in eclipse, see Maven plugin not using eclipse's proxy settings

3. Check not Cache Issue Deleted all contents in my local maven repository. (Default location: ~/.m2/repository) And then reran maven - same issue came up.

4. What worked for me

Automatically download & install missing plugin: By declaring the missing plugin in the POM file build section for pluginManagement Maven will automatically retrieve the required plugin. In the POM file, add this code for the version of the plugin you require:

  <build>
        <pluginManagement>
          <plugins>
            <plugin>
              <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
              <version>2.7</version>
            </plugin>           
          </plugins>
        </pluginManagement>   
    </build>

Manually install missing plugin: I went to http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.maven.plugins/maven-resources-plugin/2.5 and downloaded maven-resources-plugin-2.5.jar and maven-resources-plugin-2.5.pom . Copied it directly into the maven repository into the correct folder ( ~/.m2/repository/org/apache/maven/plugins/maven-resources-plugin/2.5) and reran 'mvn compile'. This solved the problem.

Edit1

Following this I had another two problem with 'mvn install':

The POM for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-surefire-plugin:jar:2.10 is missing, no dependency information available

The POM for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-install-plugin:jar:2.3.1 is missing, no dependency information available

I approached this problem the same way as above, downloading from http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.maven.plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/2.10 and http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.maven.plugins/maven-install-plugin/2.3.1

I had the exact same problem and since I read somewhere that the error was caused by a cached file, I fixed it by deleting all the files under the .m2 repository folder. The next time I built the project I had to download all the dependencies again but it was worth it - 0 errors!!