Excluding Packages
To exclude specific packages, use <excludePackageNames/> parameter as shown below. The parameter accepts wildcard (*) characters in its value but the wildcards should either be at the start or the end of the package name. If more than one package is to be excluded, each package name must be separated either with a colon (':'), a comma (',') or a semicolon (';'). (similar to the Javadoc Tool)
For instance, with the following packages:
com.mycompany.myapp com.mycompany.myapp.package1 com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage1 com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage2 com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage3 com.mycompany.myapp.package1.util com.mycompany.myapp.package2 com.mycompany.myapp.package2.subpackage4 com.mycompany.myapp.package2.subpackage5 com.mycompany.myapp.package2.util com.mycompany.myapp.package3 com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6 com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6.subsubpackage1 com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6.subsubpackage2 com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage7 com.mycompany.myapp.package3.util
You could have the following configuration:
<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.11.2</version>
  <configuration>
    <!--
    Exclude packages:
      com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage1
      com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage2
      com.mycompany.myapp.package1.subpackage3
      com.mycompany.myapp.package1.util
      com.mycompany.myapp.package2
      com.mycompany.myapp.package2.subpackage4
      com.mycompany.myapp.package2.subpackage5
      com.mycompany.myapp.package2.util
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3.util
    BUT include the packages:
      com.mycompany.myapp
      com.mycompany.myapp.package1
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6.subsubpackage1
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage6.subsubpackage2
      com.mycompany.myapp.package3.subpackage7
    -->
    <excludePackageNames>com.mycompany.myapp.package1.*:com.mycompany.myapp.package2:com.mycompany.myapp.package2.*:*.util</excludePackageNames>
  </configuration>
</plugin>



