Question

I want to run the ‘exec-maven-plugin’ if a system property is set. How do I accomplish this in Maven 3.x?

For example, given:

mvn clean install -DrunTheExec="yes"

Then how can I implement this logic:

<!-- if $(runTheExec) == yes then run this plugin -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            ...
        </plugin>

Answer 1

I was just about to add the same suggestion as Johnathon, but using the profile a little differently.

<profiles>
  <profile>
    <id>runTheExec</id>
    <activation>
      <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
    </activation>
    <build>
      <plugins>
        <plugin>
          <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    ...

then to activate it:

mvn clean install -PrunTheExec