Running a plugin goal before the default one

Question

TL;DR: Using maven, I want to run a plugin goal at the beginning of the test phase, before tests actually run. What would be a clean way to do it?

I want to print a message just before the tests actually run. Hence I want to use the echo goal of the echo plugin at the beginning of the test phase (to tell the user that if every tests fail, he'd better have a look at the README since there's a test environment he should set up first)

Attempt n°1

A simple approach could be to run this plugin in the previous phase, process-test-classes.

It works, but it doesn't seem semantically correct to bind this task to this phase...

Attempt n°2

According to Maven documentation, When multiple executions are given that match a particular phase, they are executed in the order specified in the POM, with inherited executions running first., so I tried to set explicitly the surefire plugin:

...
 <plugin>
   <groupId>com.soebes.maven.plugins</groupId>
   <artifactId>maven-echo-plugin</artifactId>
   <version>0.1</version>
   <executions>
     <execution>
       <phase>test</phase>
       <goals>
         <goal>echo</goal>
       </goals>
     </execution>
   </executions>
   <configuration>
     <echos>
       <echo>*** If most tests fail, make sure you've installed the fake wiki. See README for more info ***</echo>
     </echos>
   </configuration>
 </plugin>
 <plugin>
   <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
   <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
   <version>2.16</version>
   <executions>
     <execution>
       <phase>test</phase>
       <goals>
         <goal>test</goal>
       </goals>
     </execution>
   </executions>
 </plugin>
 ...

But tests run before my message is printed.

So, to put it in a nutshell: is there a way to reach my goal, or should I stick to the "process-test-classes solution" even though it seems a bit "hacky"?

Thanks!

Wouldn't it be better to check the existence of the fake wiki before your tests? Apart from that it sounds like running integration tests and not unit tests. — khmarbaise, Jan 26 '14 at 21:41

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

As @khmarbaise said, your solution is still hacky, because whole test looks like Integration Test and should be processed by Failsafe Plugin. Failsafe has nice phase pre-integration-test for testing fake wiki etc :)

Based on Guide to Configuring Default Mojo Executions this works for me:

<plugin>
    <groupId>com.soebes.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-echo-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>0.1</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>1-test</id>
            <phase>test</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>echo</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
    <configuration>
        <echos>
            <echo>*** If most tests fail, make sure you've installed the fake wiki. See README for more info ***</echo>
        </echos>
    </configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.16</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>default-test</id>
            <configuration>
                <skip>true</skip>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
        <execution>
            <id>2-test</id>
            <phase>test</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>test</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

This is very odd for me ;)

I have two plugins with executions bound to generate-sources, one listed first in the list of about 6 plugins and the other listed last. However, the one listed last (which depends on the one listed first) always executes first.

How can I execute several maven plugins within a single phase and set their respective execution order?

Thank you, both for the solution, for pointing me out the failsafe plugin, and for the link to the documentation! — gturri, Jan 27 '14 at 06:36
Very nice trick, but it will output the following: [INFO] --- maven-surefire-plugin:2.18.1:test (default-test) [INFO] Tests are skipped. A better configuration would be to 'unbind' the phase: default-test none . Also this can apply to any other plugin which might not have a skip property. — dcendents, Dec 14 '15 at 20:23

Running a plugin goal before the default one

1 Answers1