Maven (Surefire): copy test resources from src/test/java

Question

Maven's Surefire (testing) pluginmvn test-compile copies files in src/test/resources to target/test-classes. It compiles .java in src/test/java, and copies the compiled .class files to target/test-classes.

But it doesn't copy resources from src/test/java, and it's more convenient to be able to put test resources in the same directory as the .java classes they are resources for, than in a parallel hierarchy in src/test/resources.

Is it possible to get Maven to copy resources from src/test/java?

Purulent

You can configure Maven to do that, but it is in general "more convenient" to follow the conventions and put the resource files where Maven thinks they should be. – Henceforth

But the unitils convention is to put the dbunit xml files in the same directory as the test that uses them. And frankly, that's going to be easier for my team; the whole point of this is to reduce the pain of writing dbunit tests, which unitils does admirably. – Purulent

It's not "Maven's Surefire (testing) plugin" that does all this but mvn test-compile with maven-resources-plugin:testResources bound to the process-test-resources phase and maven-compiler-plugin:testCompile bound to the test-compile phase. I adapted the question acordingly. – Weasand

Answer 1

The resource copying is all done by the maven-resource-plugin, and if you read the doc thereof you will see how to add copying of resources from src/test/java.

See http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-resources-plugin/testResources-mojo.html for the test-resources goal, which is included in the default lifecycle.

And then see http://maven.apache.org/pom.html, and look for <testResources>.

Seat

Thanks. But I'm still a bit unclear. I see that I can include a <resources> tag in <build>, but to copy test resources, I need to add something to plugins? – Purulent

Answer 2

bmargulies gave the answer, but let me fill in some details.

<testresources> can be added to the <build> node of the project's POM, like this:

 <testResources>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java</directory>
  </testResource>
 </testResources>

That copies everything in src/test/java -- including the .java source code, which we don't want.

It also (as bmargulies only hinted at) overrides and replaces the default <testResources> setting in the standard parent POM that all other POM inherit from (unless that inheritance is changed). The standard parent copies src/test/resources, so by overriding that, we don't get that copied as usual, which we don't want. (In particular, my whole reason for doing this is to use unitils, which wants the unitils.properties file copied -- and that's (for me, anyway) in src/test/resources.

So we re-add src/test/resources:

<testResources>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java</directory>
  </testResource>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/resources</directory>
  </testResource>
</testResources>

That copies in the order listed, so that for files that exist in both /src/test/java (and subdirectories) and in /src/test/resources (and subdirectories), the src/test/resources version is the one that ends up in test-classes.

Now we just need to not copy the .java files:

<testResources>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java</directory>
    <excludes>
        <exclude>**/*.java</exclude>
    </excludes>
  </testResource>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/resources</directory>
  </testResource>
</testResources>

Cestoid

Answer 3

The only way it worked for me when I put my test configuration into src/test/resources folder (analogue of src/test/java for source files). Files from this folder is copied to the target/test-classes folder which is on the classpath during the tests execution. I don't know why, but the next config didn't work for me:

<testResources>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java</directory>
    <excludes>
        <exclude>**/*.java</exclude>
    </excludes>
  </testResource>
  <testResource>
    <directory>${project.basedir}/src/test/resources</directory>
  </testResource>
</testResources>

Chuff

Answer 4

I ran into the same issue. None of the above fixed it for me. My Pom had the following:

<build>
  <outputDirectory>${basedir}/build</outputDirectory>
  <directory>${basedir}/dist</directory>
  ...

I had to remove both, and then the plugin worked. Hope this helps. Apparently the pluggin does NOT like when you change the output directory.

Oxazine

Answer 5

Is it possible to get maven to copy resources from src/test/java?

Yes, this is easily achieved with the antrun plugin.

Mendie

I would call that 'easy' compared to adding to the testResources. – Seat