Multi Module Project - Assembly plugin

Question

I am using Maven 2.0.9 to build a multi module project. I have defined the assembly plugin in my parent pom. I can get my assemblies built using

mvn install assembly:assembly

This command runs the tests twice, once during install phase and another during assembly. I tried assembly:single but it throws an error. Any help to get my assemblies built without running the tests twice is much appreciated.

Answer 1

Invoking the assembly mojo will cause Maven to build the project using the normal lifecycle, up to the package phase. So, when you run:

mvn install assembly:assembly

you are actually telling maven to run a few things twice and this includes the test phase as you can see in the documentation of the default lifecycle.

To avoid this, consider running only:

mvn assembly:assembly

Or bind the plugin on a project's build lifecycle:

<project>
  ...
  <build>
    ...
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          ...
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
            <phase>package</phase> <!-- append to the packaging phase. -->
            <goals>
              <goal>single</goal> <!-- goals == mojos -->
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      ...
</project>