Is it possible to override the configuration of a plugin already defined for a profile in a parent POM?

configuration, maven-2, plugins, profile

Solution

Overriding configurations from a parent pom can be done by adding the `combine.self="override"` attribute to the element in your pom.

Try changing your plugin configuration to:

    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <executions>
        <execution>
          <id>my-testCompile</id>
          <phase>test-compile</phase>
          <goals>
            <goal>testCompile</goal>
          </goals>
          <configuration combine.self="override">
            <fork>true</fork>
            <executable>${jdk15.executable}</executable>
            <compilerVersion>1.5</compilerVersion>
            <source>1.5</source>
            <target>1.5</target>
            <verbose>true</verbose>
          </configuration>
        </execution>
      </executions>
    </plugin>

For more information on overriding plugins, see: http://maven.apache.org/pom.html

Problem

In a POM parent file of my project, I have such a profile defining some configurations useful for this project (so that I can't get rid of this parent POM) : ``` <profile> <id>wls7</id> ... <build> <plugins> <!-- use java 1.4 --> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <configuration> <fork>true</fork> <source>1.4</source> <target>1.4</target> <meminitial>128m</meminitial> <maxmem>1024m</maxmem> <executable>%${jdk14.executable}</executable> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </build> ... </profile> ``` But in my project I just would like to override the configuration of the maven-compiler-plugin in order to use jdk5 instead of jdk4 for compiling test-classes. That's why I did this section in the POM of my project : ``` <profiles> <profile> <id>wls7</id> <activation> <property> <name>jdk</name> <value>4</value> </property> </activation> <build> <directory>target-1.4</directory> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <executions> <execution> <id>my-testCompile</id> <phase>test-compile</phase> <goals> <goal>testCompile</goal> </goals> <configuration> <fork>true</fork> <executable>${jdk15.executable}</executable> <compilerVersion>1.5</compilerVersion> <source>1.5</source> <target>1.5</target> <verbose>true</verbose> </configuration> </execution> </executions> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </profile> ... </profiles> ``` and it's not working ... I even tried to override the configuration in regular plugin sections of my POM (I mean, not for a specific profile but for my whole POM). What could be the problem ? To clarify some of my requirements : - I don't want to get rid of the parent POM and the profile (wls7) defined inside it (since I need many and many properties, configurations, ...) and that is not the process in my company. - A solution based on duplicating the parent POM and/or the profile defined inside it is not a good one. Since if the responsible of the parent POM change something, I would have to report it in mine. It's just an inheritance matter (extend or override a profile, a configuration from an upper-level POM) so I think it should be possible with Maven 2.

Original source