exclude maven module with intergration tests from test phase - maven

Question

I have a multi module maven project with a structure
parent
pom.xml
module
pom.xml
core-api
pom.xml
integ-tests
pom.xml
I have maven surefire plugin setup for executing the unit tests '*Test.java' which are houses in the 'core-api' module.
We have slow long-running integration tests housed in a separate 'integ-tests' module. we use '*Test.java' for our integ tests as well.
We need to be able to compile all source code but want to exclude the 'integ-test' from running as part of the default maven 'test' phase. We plan to use a profile to enable the test phase of the 'integ-test' module. I don't want to use the 'failsafe' plugin.
A matrix outlining the combination is here
mvn | core | integ-test
test | run unit tests | exclude
test -PintegTest | unit tests | integ tests
I've defined the surefire plugin in my parent pom, with a property 'skip.integ.tests' which will be controlled via a profile '-PintegTests'.
<properties>
<skip.integ.tests>true</skip.integ.tests>
</properties>
..
<build>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
</plugin>
</build>
..
<profiles>
<profile>
<id>integTests</id>
<properties>
<skip.integ.tests>false</skip.integ.tests>
</properties>
</profile>
</profiles>
In my 'integ-test' pom, i've then overridden the 'maven-surefire-plugin' config and have the 'skipTests' configuration set to look at the value of the property.
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<skipTests>${skip.integ.tests}</skipTests>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
My problem is the integ-test module tests run in every case. Any ideas on where i'm going wrong with the setup?

Answer 1

First you should name your integration tests accordingly to the naming conventions of the maven-failsafe-plugin which is intended to run the integration tests. Furthermore the pre-integration-test, integration-test and post-integration-test life cycle phases are intended for running those tests. This means in your case to configure the maven-failsafe-plugin accordingly to the documentation like this. The maven-failsafe-plugin bounds to the integration-test life cycle phase.
<project>
[...]
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.16</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<goals>
<goal>integration-test</goal>
<goal>verify</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
[...]
</project>
I would suggest to add the following profile into your integration test module like this:
<profiles>
<profile>
<id>run-its</id>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.16</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<goals>
<goal>integration-test</goal>
<goal>verify</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</profile>
</profiles>
This gives you simply the following options:
mvn test
running unit tests only
mvn -DskipTests=true test
running compilation etc. but no unit tests.
mvn -Prun-its verify
Running packaging etc. unit tests and integration tests
mvn install
Running installation without integration tests.
mvn -DskipTests=true install
Running installation without running unit tests nor integration tests.

Answer 2

In your Maven build, you can exclude:
compilation and execution of both unit tests (by Surefire plugin) and integration tests (by Failsafe plugin) by adding -Dmaven.skip.test=true
execution of both unit and integration tests via -DskipTests
execution of integration tests via -DskipITs
Instead, if you have your integration tests in a separate Maven module (i.e. integ-test in your case), you can directly exclude that from the Maven build via profile, like in below example -- see extract of aggregator's pom.xml and maven command line to be launched:
<modules>
<!-- remove 'integ-test' from this list -->
</modules>
<profiles>
<profile><id>build-it</id>
<activation><activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault></activation>
<modules><module>integ-test</module></modules>
</profile>
</profiles>
and then mvn install -P !build-it