surefire:test

Run tests using Surefire.

Mojo Attributes:

  • Requires a Maven 2.0 project to execute.
  • Requires dependency resolution of artifacts in scope: test
  • Automatically executes within the lifecycle phase: test

Required Parameters

Name Type Description
basedir File The base directory of the project being tested. This can be obtained in your unit test by System.getProperty("basedir").
classesDirectory File The directory containing generated classes of the project being tested.
testClassesDirectory File The directory containing generated test classes of the project being tested.
testSourceDirectory File The test source directory containing test class sources.

Optional Parameters

Name Type Description
additionalClasspathElements List Additional elements to be appended to the classpath.
argLine String Arbitrary JVM options to set on the command line.
artifactFactory ArtifactFactory Creates the artifact
artifactResolver ArtifactResolver Resolves the artifacts needed.
childDelegation boolean When false it makes tests run using the standard classloader delegation instead of the default Maven isolated classloader. Only used when forking (forkMode is not "none").

Setting it to false helps with some problems caused by conflicts between xml parsers in the classpath and the Java 5 provider parser. Default value is false.
debugForkedProcess String Attach a debugger to the forked JVM. If set to "true", the process will suspend and wait for a debugger to attach on port 5005. If set to some other string, that string will be appended to the argLine, allowing you to configure arbitrary debuggability options (without overwriting the other options specified in the argLine).
disableXmlReport boolean Flag to disable the generation of report files in xml format. Default value is false.
enableAssertions boolean By default, Surefire enables JVM assertions for the execution of your test cases. To disable the assertions, set this flag to false. Default value is true.
environmentVariables Map Additional environments to set on the command line.
excludedGroups String (TestNG only) Excluded groups. Any methods/classes/etc with one of the groups specified in this list will specifically not be run. This parameter is overridden if suiteXmlFiles are specified.
excludes List List of patterns (separated by commas) used to specify the tests that should be excluded in testing. When not specified and when the test parameter is not specified, the default excludes will be **/*$* (which excludes all inner classes). This parameter is ignored if TestNG suiteXmlFiles are specified.
failIfNoTests Boolean Set this to "true" to cause a failure if there are no tests to run. Defaults to false.
forkMode String Option to specify the forking mode. Can be "never", "once" or "always". "none" and "pertest" are also accepted for backwards compatibility. Default value is once.
forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds int Kill the forked test process after a certain number of seconds. If set to 0, wait forever for the process, never timing out.
groups String (TestNG only) Groups for this test. Only classes/methods/etc decorated with one of the groups specified here will be included in test run, if specified. This parameter is overridden if suiteXmlFiles are specified.
includes List List of patterns (separated by commas) used to specify the tests that should be included in testing. When not specified and when the test parameter is not specified, the default includes will be **/Test*.java **/*Test.java **/*TestCase.java. This parameter is ignored if TestNG suiteXmlFiles are specified.
junitArtifactName String Allows you to specify the name of the JUnit artifact. If not set, junit:junit will be used. Default value is junit:junit.
jvm String Option to specify the jvm (or path to the java executable) to use with the forking options. For the default, the jvm will be the same as the one used to run Maven.
metadataSource ArtifactMetadataSource For retrieval of artifact's metadata.
parallel String (TestNG only) When you use the parallel attribute, TestNG will try to run all your test methods in separate threads, except for methods that depend on each other, which will be run in the same thread in order to respect their order of execution.
printSummary boolean Option to print summary of test suites or just print the test cases that has errors. Default value is true.
properties Properties List of properties for configuring all TestNG related configurations. This is the new preferred method of configuring TestNG.
redirectTestOutputToFile boolean When forking, set this to true to redirect the unit test standard output to a file (found in reportsDirectory/testName-output.txt). Default value is false.
remoteRepositories List The plugin remote repositories declared in the pom.
reportFormat String Selects the formatting for the test report to be generated. Can be set as brief or plain. Default value is brief.
reportsDirectory File Base directory where all reports are written to.
skip boolean Set this to 'true' to bypass unit tests entirely. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, especially if you enable it using the "maven.test.skip" property, because maven.test.skip disables both running the tests and compiling the tests. Consider using the skipTests parameter instead.
skipExec boolean DEPRECATED This old parameter is just like skipTests, but bound to the old property maven.test.skip.exec. Use -DskipTests instead; it's shorter.
skipTests boolean Set this to 'true' to skip running tests, but still compile them. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, but quite convenient on occasion.
suiteXmlFiles File[] (TestNG only) List of TestNG suite xml file locations, seperated by commas. Note that suiteXmlFiles is incompatible with several other parameters on this plugin, like includes/excludes. This parameter is ignored if the "test" parameter is specified (allowing you to run a single test instead of an entire suite).
systemProperties Properties List of System properties to pass to the JUnit tests.
test String Specify this parameter to run individual tests by file name, overriding the includes/excludes parameters. Each pattern you specify here will be used to create an include pattern formatted like **/${test}.java, so you can just type "-Dtest=MyTest" to run a single test called "foo/MyTest.java". This parameter will override the TestNG suiteXmlFiles parameter.
testFailureIgnore boolean Set this to true to ignore a failure during testing. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, but quite convenient on occasion.
testNGArtifactName String Allows you to specify the name of the TestNG artifact. If not set, org.testng:testng will be used. Default value is org.testng:testng.
threadCount int (TestNG only) The attribute thread-count allows you to specify how many threads should be allocated for this execution. Only makes sense to use in conjunction with parallel.
trimStackTrace boolean Whether to trim the stack trace in the reports to just the lines within the test, or show the full trace. Default value is true.
useFile boolean Option to generate a file test report or just output the test report to the console. Default value is true.
useManifestOnlyJar boolean By default, Surefire forks your tests using a manifest-only jar; set this parameter to "false" to force it to launch your tests with a plain old Java classpath. (See http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/examples/class-loading.html for a more detailed explanation of manifest-only jars and their benefits.) Default value is "true". Beware, setting this to "false" may cause your tests to fail on Windows if your classpath is too long. Default value is true.
useSystemClassLoader Boolean Option to pass dependencies to the system's classloader instead of using an isolated class loader when forking. Prevents problems with JDKs which implement the service provider lookup mechanism by using the system's classloader. Default value is "true".
workingDirectory File Command line working directory.

Parameter Details

additionalClasspathElements Additional elements to be appended to the classpath.
  • Type: java.util.List
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
argLine Arbitrary JVM options to set on the command line.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${argLine}
artifactFactory Creates the artifact
  • Type: org.apache.maven.artifact.factory.ArtifactFactory
  • Required: No
artifactResolver Resolves the artifacts needed.
  • Type: org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolver
  • Required: No
basedir The base directory of the project being tested. This can be obtained in your unit test by System.getProperty("basedir").
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Required: Yes
  • Expression: ${basedir}
childDelegation When false it makes tests run using the standard classloader delegation instead of the default Maven isolated classloader. Only used when forking (forkMode is not "none").

Setting it to false helps with some problems caused by conflicts between xml parsers in the classpath and the Java 5 provider parser.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${childDelegation}
  • Default: false
classesDirectory The directory containing generated classes of the project being tested.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Required: Yes
  • Expression: ${project.build.outputDirectory}
debugForkedProcess Attach a debugger to the forked JVM. If set to "true", the process will suspend and wait for a debugger to attach on port 5005. If set to some other string, that string will be appended to the argLine, allowing you to configure arbitrary debuggability options (without overwriting the other options specified in the argLine).
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${maven.surefire.debug}
disableXmlReport Flag to disable the generation of report files in xml format.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${disableXmlReport}
  • Default: false
enableAssertions By default, Surefire enables JVM assertions for the execution of your test cases. To disable the assertions, set this flag to false.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.3.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${enableAssertions}
  • Default: true
environmentVariables Additional environments to set on the command line.
  • Type: java.util.Map
  • Since: 2.1.3
  • Required: No
excludedGroups (TestNG only) Excluded groups. Any methods/classes/etc with one of the groups specified in this list will specifically not be run. This parameter is overridden if suiteXmlFiles are specified.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${excludedGroups}
excludes List of patterns (separated by commas) used to specify the tests that should be excluded in testing. When not specified and when the test parameter is not specified, the default excludes will be **/*$* (which excludes all inner classes). This parameter is ignored if TestNG suiteXmlFiles are specified.
  • Type: java.util.List
  • Required: No
failIfNoTests Set this to "true" to cause a failure if there are no tests to run. Defaults to false.
  • Type: java.lang.Boolean
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${failIfNoTests}
forkMode Option to specify the forking mode. Can be "never", "once" or "always". "none" and "pertest" are also accepted for backwards compatibility.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${forkMode}
  • Default: once
forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds Kill the forked test process after a certain number of seconds. If set to 0, wait forever for the process, never timing out.
  • Type: int
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.timeout}
groups (TestNG only) Groups for this test. Only classes/methods/etc decorated with one of the groups specified here will be included in test run, if specified. This parameter is overridden if suiteXmlFiles are specified.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${groups}
includes List of patterns (separated by commas) used to specify the tests that should be included in testing. When not specified and when the test parameter is not specified, the default includes will be **/Test*.java **/*Test.java **/*TestCase.java. This parameter is ignored if TestNG suiteXmlFiles are specified.
  • Type: java.util.List
  • Required: No
junitArtifactName Allows you to specify the name of the JUnit artifact. If not set, junit:junit will be used.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.3.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${junitArtifactName}
  • Default: junit:junit
jvm Option to specify the jvm (or path to the java executable) to use with the forking options. For the default, the jvm will be the same as the one used to run Maven.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${jvm}
metadataSource For retrieval of artifact's metadata.
  • Type: org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ArtifactMetadataSource
  • Required: No
parallel (TestNG only) When you use the parallel attribute, TestNG will try to run all your test methods in separate threads, except for methods that depend on each other, which will be run in the same thread in order to respect their order of execution.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${parallel}
printSummary Option to print summary of test suites or just print the test cases that has errors.
  • Type: boolean
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.printSummary}
  • Default: true
properties List of properties for configuring all TestNG related configurations. This is the new preferred method of configuring TestNG.
  • Type: java.util.Properties
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
redirectTestOutputToFile When forking, set this to true to redirect the unit test standard output to a file (found in reportsDirectory/testName-output.txt).
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.3
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${maven.test.redirectTestOutputToFile}
  • Default: false
remoteRepositories The plugin remote repositories declared in the pom.
  • Type: java.util.List
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${project.pluginArtifactRepositories}
reportFormat Selects the formatting for the test report to be generated. Can be set as brief or plain.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.reportFormat}
  • Default: brief
reportsDirectory Base directory where all reports are written to.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${project.build.directory}/surefire-reports
skip Set this to 'true' to bypass unit tests entirely. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, especially if you enable it using the "maven.test.skip" property, because maven.test.skip disables both running the tests and compiling the tests. Consider using the skipTests parameter instead.
  • Type: boolean
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${maven.test.skip}
skipExec DEPRECATED This old parameter is just like skipTests, but bound to the old property maven.test.skip.exec. Use -DskipTests instead; it's shorter.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.3
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${maven.test.skip.exec}
skipTests Set this to 'true' to skip running tests, but still compile them. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, but quite convenient on occasion.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.4
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${skipTests}
suiteXmlFiles (TestNG only) List of TestNG suite xml file locations, seperated by commas. Note that suiteXmlFiles is incompatible with several other parameters on this plugin, like includes/excludes. This parameter is ignored if the "test" parameter is specified (allowing you to run a single test instead of an entire suite).
  • Type: java.io.File[]
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
systemProperties List of System properties to pass to the JUnit tests.
  • Type: java.util.Properties
  • Required: No
test Specify this parameter to run individual tests by file name, overriding the includes/excludes parameters. Each pattern you specify here will be used to create an include pattern formatted like **/${test}.java, so you can just type "-Dtest=MyTest" to run a single test called "foo/MyTest.java". This parameter will override the TestNG suiteXmlFiles parameter.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${test}
testClassesDirectory The directory containing generated test classes of the project being tested.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Required: Yes
  • Expression: ${project.build.testOutputDirectory}
testFailureIgnore Set this to true to ignore a failure during testing. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, but quite convenient on occasion.
  • Type: boolean
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${maven.test.failure.ignore}
testNGArtifactName Allows you to specify the name of the TestNG artifact. If not set, org.testng:testng will be used.
  • Type: java.lang.String
  • Since: 2.3.1
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${testNGArtifactName}
  • Default: org.testng:testng
testSourceDirectory The test source directory containing test class sources.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: Yes
  • Expression: ${project.build.testSourceDirectory}
threadCount (TestNG only) The attribute thread-count allows you to specify how many threads should be allocated for this execution. Only makes sense to use in conjunction with parallel.
  • Type: int
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${threadCount}
trimStackTrace Whether to trim the stack trace in the reports to just the lines within the test, or show the full trace.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.2
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${trimStackTrace}
  • Default: true
useFile Option to generate a file test report or just output the test report to the console.
  • Type: boolean
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.useFile}
  • Default: true
useManifestOnlyJar By default, Surefire forks your tests using a manifest-only jar; set this parameter to "false" to force it to launch your tests with a plain old Java classpath. (See http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/examples/class-loading.html for a more detailed explanation of manifest-only jars and their benefits.) Default value is "true". Beware, setting this to "false" may cause your tests to fail on Windows if your classpath is too long.
  • Type: boolean
  • Since: 2.4.3
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.useManifestOnlyJar}
  • Default: true
useSystemClassLoader Option to pass dependencies to the system's classloader instead of using an isolated class loader when forking. Prevents problems with JDKs which implement the service provider lookup mechanism by using the system's classloader. Default value is "true".
  • Type: java.lang.Boolean
  • Since: 2.3
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${surefire.useSystemClassLoader}
workingDirectory Command line working directory.
  • Type: java.io.File
  • Since: 2.1.3
  • Required: No
  • Expression: ${basedir}