java.lang.NullPointerException (EclipsePlugin.isAvailableAsAWorkspaceProject)

I found an issue when executing mvn eclipse:eclipse on my workspace. Below is the stack trace and the reason of it:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'eclipse'.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building FlexGN
[INFO] task-segment: [eclipse:eclipse]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Preparing eclipse:eclipse
[INFO] No goals needed for project - skipping
[INFO] [eclipse:eclipse

]
[INFO] Using Eclipse Workspace: C:\Documents and Settings\catalrc\WorkspaceXYZ
[INFO] Adding default classpath container: org.eclipse.jdt.launching.JRE_CONTAINER/org.eclipse.jdt.internal.debug.ui.launcher.StandardVMType/J2SE-1.5
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] FATAL ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] null
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.maven.plugin.eclipse.EclipsePlugin.isAvailableAsAWorkspaceProject(EclipsePlugin.java:1889)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.eclipse.EclipsePlugin.useProjectReference(EclipsePlugin.java:1932)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.ide.AbstractIdeSupportMojo.doDependencyResolution(AbstractIdeSupportMojo.java:683)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.ide.AbstractIdeSupportMojo.execute(AbstractIdeSupportMojo.java:507)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:490)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:569)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:539)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:348)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)
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)
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 1 second
[INFO] Finished at: Thu Mar 04 12:54:48 EST 2010
[INFO] Final Memory: 7M/15M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

—

The pom.xml for this project (FlexGN) was fine. However, I detected that another project in the same workspace had the following pom.xml:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
</project>

I don't know how I got this file, I guess because we are migrating our projects to Maven.

Solution / Workaround:

The "NullPointerException...isAvailableAsAWorkspaceProject" issue with the plugin is gone when you complete the minimal POM configuration (it also works when you delete or rename the file).

However,
I don't see why an invalid pom.xml in a particular project has to prevent me on executing this plugin in ANY PROJECT of the same workspace.

Thanks!