Hallo, I try to run a main method during my maven build process. Hence,

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Asked: May 21, 20262026-05-21T06:47:51+00:00 2026-05-21T06:47:51+00:00

Hallo, I try to run a main method during my maven build process. Hence,

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Hallo,

I try to run a main method during my maven build process. Hence, I added the exec-maven-plugin and the following snippet to my pom.xml

<plugin>
     <!-- http://www.vineetmanohar.com/2009/11/3-ways-to-run-java-main-from-maven/ -->
     <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
     <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
     <version>1.1.1</version>
     <executions>
      <execution>
       <id>compile-reports</id>
       <phase>compile</phase>
       <goals>
        <goal>java</goal>
       </goals>
       <configuration>
        <mainClass>at.xyz.dls.util.JasperReportCompiler</mainClass>
       </configuration>
      </execution>
     </executions>
    </plugin>

The main class exists and is also executed, when I call it out of the command line:

mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="at.xyz.dls.util.JasperReportCompiler"

I also tried to create a empty new project to test, if an other depencency in the pom causes the problem, but had no success. In the maven settings.xml in the ~/.m2 folder, there is only the entry for an mirror, but no profiles, or anything else, which could cause a problem.

It just does not start it. When I deleted all my artifacts in my repo under org.codehouse, it did not download the exec-maven-plugin. Only when I did the command line call.

Any hints? Thanks in advance!

edit: I forgot to mention I have used “mvn clean install”. so it should have passed the compile phase…

edit:

up to now, I could not solve the problem. Thanks for your answers so far! I will try to give all information once again, and hope, one of you guys, find’s the fishy part. I have no idea anymore….

What I did:

Delete the folder org/codehouse/mojo in my maven proxy. just to show, when the dependencies are loaded.
show some java and maven version information
build the project with: mvn -clean install (which should pass the test phase to execute my main method)
execute the main method to show, the exec-maven-plugin is loaded only afterwards and works

As far as I understood, calling “mvn clean install” should pass the test phase (the tests are executed…), hence the exec-maven-plugin should be called, which should execute the main method. Am I right?

D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test>java -version java version "1.6.0_21" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_21-b07) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 17.0-b17, mixed mode, sharing)

D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test>mvn -version Apache Maven 2.2.1 (r801777; 2009-08-06 21:16:01+0200) Java version: 1.6.0_21 Java home: C:\Programme\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\jre Default locale: de_AT, platform encoding: Cp1252 OS name: "windows xp" version: "5.1" arch: "x86" Family: "windows" D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test>mvn clean install 
[INFO] Scanning for projects... 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] Building Unnamed - at.test:exec-test:jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT 
[INFO] task-segment: [clean, install] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] [clean:clean {execution: default-clean}] 
[INFO] Deleting directory D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target 
[INFO] [resources:resources {execution: default-resources}] 
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources. 
[INFO] Copying 0 resource 
[INFO] [compiler:compile {execution: default-compile}] 
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target\classes 
[INFO] [resources:testResources {execution: default-testResources}] 
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources. 
[INFO] Copying 0 resource 
[INFO] [compiler:testCompile {execution: default-testCompile}] 
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target\test-classes 
[INFO] [surefire:test {execution: default-test}] 
[INFO] Surefire report directory: D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target\surefire-reports

T E S T S

Running at.test.ExecTestTest JUnit Test call: end of junit test.


Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.031 sec

Results :

Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0


[INFO] [jar:jar {execution: default-jar}] 
[INFO] Building jar: D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target\exec-test.jar 
[INFO] [install:install {execution: default-install}] 
[INFO] Installing D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test\target\exec-test.jar to D:\maven.m2\repository\at\test\exec-test\0.0.1-SNAPSHOT\exec-test-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] Total time: 3 seconds 
[INFO] Finished at: Thu Mar 10 12:07:08 CET 2011 
[INFO] Final Memory: 15M/37M 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test>mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="at.test.ExecTest" 
[INFO] Scanning for projects... 
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'exec'. Downloading: http://pced06.vab.sozvers.at:8080/artifactory/repo/org/codehaus/mojo/exec-maven-plugin/1.2/exec-maven-plugin-1.2.pom 6K downloaded (exec-maven-plugin-1.2.pom) Downloading: http://pced06.vab.sozvers.at:8080/artifactory/repo/org/codehaus/mojo/exec-maven-plugin/1.2/exec-maven-plugin-1.2.jar 35K downloaded (exec-maven-plugin-1.2.jar) 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] Building Unnamed - at.test:exec-test:jar:0.0.1-SNAPSHOT 
[INFO] task-segment: [exec:java] 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] Preparing exec:java [WARNING] Removing: java from forked lifecycle, to prevent recursive invocation. 
[INFO] No goals needed for project - skipping 
[INFO] [exec:java {execution: default-cli}]


[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
[INFO] Total time: 7 seconds 
[INFO] Finished at: Thu Mar 10 12:07:20 CET 2011 
[INFO] Final Memory: 5M/15M 
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------        

D:\Eclipse-3.6.1-JSF\ws\exec-test>

now again the modified 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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>at.test</groupId>
  <artifactId>exec-test</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
  </properties>

  <build>
    <finalName>exec-test</finalName>
    <defaultGoal>install</defaultGoal>
    <pluginManagement>
      <plugins>
        <plugin>
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
            <source>1.6</source>
            <target>1.6</target>
            <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
<!-- http://www.vineetmanohar.com/2009/11/3-ways-to-run-java-main-from-maven/ -->
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.2</version>
<executions>
  <execution>
    <id>compile-reports</id>
    <phase>test</phase>
    <goals>
      <goal>java</goal>
    </goals>
    <configuration>
      <mainClass>at.test.ExecTest</mainClass>
    </configuration>
  </execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>
<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>junit</groupId>
    <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
    <version>4.8.2</version>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>

The main class:

package at.test;

public class ExecTest {
  /**
   * @param args
   */
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("##################################");
  }
}

And the JUnit Test Class:

package at.test;
import org.junit.Test;
import at.test.ExecTest;

public class ExecTestTest {

  @Test
    public void testTestTest() {
      System.err.println("JUnit Test call:");
      ExecTest.main(null);
      System.err.println("end of junit test.");
    }
}

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1 Answer

Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-05-21T06:47:52+00:00

Editorial Team

2026-05-21T06:47:52+00:00Added an answer on May 21, 2026 at 6:47 am

Finally I found the problem. Was quite a stupid mistake:

In the pom.xml I used the <pluginManagement> around the <plugins> node.

Maven did not complain, but ignored all plugin configurations.
Maybe someone can use this information…

Thanks for your help!

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Hallo, I try to run a main method during my maven build process. Hence,

up to now, I could not solve the problem. Thanks for your answers so far! I will try to give all information once again, and hope, one of you guys, find’s the fishy part. I have no idea anymore….

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