maven-failsafe-plugin won't run on verify and does not find xml on failsafe:verify

Question

The Maven failsafe plugin will not run on my project. If I run mvn verify only surefire runs. If I type mvn failsafe:verify it fails with the following error:

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-failsafe-plugin:2.11:verify (default-cli) on project experiment-server: /home/user/workspace/MyProject-Main/MyProject-IntegrationTest/target/failsafe-summary.xml (The system cannot find the path specified) -> [Help 1]

So I basicly have the same problem as: failsafe plugin won't run on one project but will run on another -- why? With the difference that my pom already looks like this:

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.14.1</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>failsafe-integration-tests</id>
            <phase>integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>integration-test</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
        <execution>
            <id>failsafe-verify</id>
            <phase>verify</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>verify</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

And this was the solution to this guys problem. Except the solutions on this site didn't work for me. Can someone point out where I messed up?

I also have the problem that I want to start a server with exec-maven-plugin in pre-integration-phase. But when I try mvn-verify it's the very last thing that gets executed.

Answer 1

Just found out for this one, solution is here: http://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-failsafe-plugin/plugin-info.html

maven-failsafe-plugin, contrarely to maven-compiler-plugin for example, is NOT in the default maven build lifecycle.

Consequently, one must respect this tags hierarchy:

<project>
  <build>
    <pluginManagement>
      <plugins>
        <!-- For understanding only, below is the 'maven-compiler-plugin':
             its path is 'project -> build -> pluginManagement -> plugins
             -> plugin', because it's defaulty part of the maven build
             lifecycle: we just 'manage' it -->
        <plugin>
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
          ..
        </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>
    <plugins>
      <!-- HERE is the 'maven-failsafe-plugin':
           its path is 'project -> build -> plugins ->
           plugin', because it's NOT defaulty part of
           the maven build lifecycle: we have to
           'define' it, and not just manage it as
           stated earlier -->
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
        ..
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
<project>

Quoting from the official documentation link: "To define the plugin version in your parent POM" and "To use the plugin goals in your POM or parent POM". One must pay attention to the difference.