multi module release fails because of test-jar

I'm having the same problem and the only "solution" I've found is the one mentioned above.

After a bit more reading I found that there is a configuration parameter called preparationGoals. The default is "clean integration-test" but you can change this to the goals you want. I used "clean install" to fix the problem.

The preparationGoals doesn't work for me. I have to use the ugly workaround mentioned in the description.

Ah! I was able to make the preparationGoals work-around work for me by putting that configuration setting in the parent POM. I was putting it only in the POM where the test-jar configuration was specified.

just checked and I also put the configuration in the parent POM.

The problem is actually in the resolution of dependencies. I have a multi-module project. The project packages up a test JAR in the first module in the reactor order. This JAR is needed by the tests of the other modules. If my local repository is clean and I try to build while specifying -Dmaven.test.skip=true then two things happen that cause the build to fail:

-The building of the test JAR is skipped because tests are skipped.
-Skipping of tests does not instruct the dependency resolver for the other modules to NOT download the test JAR of the first module.

Thus, I must first get the test-jar packaged up and in my local repo before my build can succeed. I can either run with tests or specify -Dmaven.test.execute=false

I think the proper fix for this would be to fix the resolution of dependencies. Basically, if tests are skipped then don't check for deps that are scope=test.

This problem seems to be related to MJAR-90. I bet before this fix went in this issue didn't exist.

clarification... to skip executing tests but still compile them the switch is -DskipTests=true not -Dmaven.test.execute=false

Also, my initial comment might warrant its own bug. What do you think?

-Dmaven.test.skip=true skips all test-related : compile test, run test, create test-jars ...

-Dmaven.test.skip.exec=true only skip test execution. They are still compiled and packaged into test-jar.

right, but do you agree that in a multi-module project if you are skipping tests (which includes skipping the build of the test JAR) then your modules that rely on that test JAR to run their tests won't need the test JAR and therefore should not fail with a "Missing dependency" (namely that test JAR)?

The reason they should not fail is because they aren't running tests!!! I'm saying that the problem here is that in a sub-module POM if I specify:

<scope>test</scope>

for a dependency and then I skip tests then that dep should not even be checked for.

I agree with Chad. We just ran into this problem. Any update? For now we're using maven.skip.exec=true.

as mentioned above you can do a release with different preparation goals:

$ mvn release:prepare -DpreparationGoals="clean install"
$ mvn release:perform

this is still a workaround but well it works (creating the test-jar and execute tests in depending modules)

We set <type>test-jar</type> on a dependency on a test jar.

This works well on 3.0.3