I cloned the git repository of Apache ActiveMQ Artemis project (https://github.com/apache/activemq-artemis) and then typed
mvn -Ptests test -pl :integration-tests
I was surprised to see log messages like the following
...
Downloading: http://repository.apache.org/snapshots/org/apache/activemq/artemis-selector/1.4.0-SNAPSHOT/artemis-selector-1.4.0-20160625.030221-11.jar
Downloading: http://repository.apache.org/snapshots/org/apache/activemq/artemis-core-client/1.4.0-SNAPSHOT/artemis-core-client-1.4.0-20160625.030211-11.jar
...
Since e.g. artemis-core-client is contained in the git repository I cloned in the beginning, I'd have expected maven just builds it from there.
That way, when I make changes in the core client source, they get picked up by the integration tests.
Instead, maven is downloading the jar from the repository.
Question: How do I configure maven to always build all modules that are in the git repository and download only "true" dependencies, which I mean things not in the git repository?
You are not executing the Maven build on the main project, on the main pom.xml which indeed defines the artemis-selector and artemis-core-client modules, among others.
You are executing the Maven build on the tests and its pom.xml, where only tests modules are defined. This is a side/test project, which has as parent the previous pom file, but it doesn't play any role in its parent modules definition. Hence, dependencies are not resolved as modules but as Maven dependencies.
You should firstly install (via mvn clean install) the former project, so that libraries will be available in your local Maven cache (hence no downloading would be triggered), then execute the tests project.
Check the Maven docs for a inheritance vs aggregation difference to further clarify it.
From the Stack Overflow, the follow threads could also be interesting: