This is part of my pom.xml:
<plugin> <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.5.3</version> <configuration> <excludedGroups>slow</excludedGroups> </configuration> </plugin> I want my @Tag("slow") JUnit5 tests to be disabled by default. It works. Now, I want to enable these tests in command line. I do this:
mvn test -DexcludedGroups= No effect. They still are not running.
As you noted, Maven Surefire Plugin allows you exclude groups using the excludedGroups property. Instead of hard-coding it in the plugin's configuration, you can give the property itself a default value, and then override it from the command line.
i.e., the relevant parts of your pom.xml should look like this:
<project> <properties> <!-- Default excludedGroups value --> <excludedGroups>slow</excludedGroups> </properties> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.5.3</version> <!-- Don't specify excludedGroups here! --> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project> That way, if you just run the tests, the property will be applied:
➜ mvn test [INFO] Scanning for projects... [INFO] [INFO] -----------------------< org.example:samplejava >----------------------- [INFO] Building samplejava 1.0-SNAPSHOT [INFO] from pom.xml [INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]--------------------------------- [INFO] [INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Copying 0 resource from src/main/resources to target/classes [INFO] [INFO] --- compiler:3.13.0:compile (default-compile) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date. [INFO] [INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ samplejava --- [INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /Users/mureinik/src/untracked/samplejava/src/test/resources [INFO] [INFO] --- compiler:3.13.0:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date. [INFO] [INFO] --- surefire:3.5.3:test (default-test) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider [INFO] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] T E S T S [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] [INFO] Results: [INFO] [INFO] Tests run: 0, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0 [INFO] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] BUILD SUCCESS [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Total time: 0.684 s [INFO] Finished at: 2025-06-17T12:03:17+03:00 [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ But you can override the property with a -D flag:
➜ mvn test -DexcludedGroups= [INFO] Scanning for projects... [INFO] [INFO] -----------------------< org.example:samplejava >----------------------- [INFO] Building samplejava 1.0-SNAPSHOT [INFO] from pom.xml [INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]--------------------------------- [INFO] [INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Copying 0 resource from src/main/resources to target/classes [INFO] [INFO] --- compiler:3.13.0:compile (default-compile) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date. [INFO] [INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ samplejava --- [INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /Users/mureinik/src/untracked/samplejava/src/test/resources [INFO] [INFO] --- compiler:3.13.0:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date. [INFO] [INFO] --- surefire:3.5.3:test (default-test) @ samplejava --- [INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider [INFO] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] T E S T S [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------- [INFO] Running org.example.MySlowTest [INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.015 s -- in org.example.MySlowTest [INFO] [INFO] Results: [INFO] [INFO] Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0 [INFO] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] BUILD SUCCESS [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Total time: 0.706 s [INFO] Finished at: 2025-06-17T12:04:18+03:00 [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It seems that this is the only possible solution, because surefire, despite the promise of its documentation, doesn't understand the excludedGroups command-line parameter:
<properties> <excludedGroups>slow</excludedGroups> </properties> <plugin> <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.5.3</version> <configuration> <excludedGroups>${excludedGroups}</excludedGroups> </configuration> </plugin> 
excludedGroups is already handled as a property by Maven Surefire Plugin, you don't need to reimplement this logic in the plugin configuration - see my answer below.