I am using the pom config like this: <plugin> <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId> <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId> <configuration> <executable>${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java</executable> <arguments> <argument>-Xmx128M</argument> <argument>-server</argument> <argument>-classpath</argument> <classpath/> <argument>${exec.myMainClass}</argument> <!-- hack --> <argument>${exec.myProgramArgs}</argument><!-- hack --> </arguments> </configuration> </plugin> And then at the cmd line, I set ${exec.myMainClass} and ${exec.myProgramArgs}. If I make exec.myProgramArgs an empty String, my main java class doesn't get an empty args array, but one with a single value of "-Xmx128M". If it's not an empty string, the "-Xmx128M" isn't added... wierd. Anyway, it would be nice to support mixing pom configuration with cmd line arguments better. Even if only to configure the general stuff (classpath, memory) in the pom and the non-general stuff on the command line (program arguments etc).