Maven run class before test phase: exec-maven-plugin exec:java not executing class

I am running jUnit4 tests, built with Maven, on a Jenkins box. My goal is to restore a test database before executing the tests. It looks like exec-maven-plugin is the way to go, but I cannot get it running. Any pointers? Although there are lots of examples, the doc on the mojo site is pretty thin. The class I need to run currently lives at: MyProject.src.test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment.java My pom.xml includes: ``` <pluginManagement> <plugins> <plugin> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.3.2</version> <configuration> <source>1.6</source> <target>1.6</target> </configuration> </plugin> <plugin> <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId> <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId> <version>1.3</version> <executions> <execution> <id>build-test-environment</id> <phase>generate-test-resources</phase> <goals> <goal>java</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> <configuration> <mainClass>src.test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment</mainClass> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </pluginManagement> ``` Run this in Jenkins, nothing really happens. If I run it locally, I get Things I have tried, without success: Run the build in Jenkins: Nothing really happens. The project builds and starts running tests, but my class is not run. Run the build locally: Same result as in Jenkins. No surprise there. Run generate-test-resources locally: ClassNotFoundException. ie: mvn exec:java generate-test-resources java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: src.test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment Compile the class into a jar, and add that to my pom. Update: After reading @ppuskar's comments, I tried moving my buildxxx class around a bit. After moving it to src.main.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment, I still get a similar message. Here is my build log, in case that helps: [DEBUG] Invoking : test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment.main() [DEBUG] Plugin Dependencies will be excluded. [DEBUG] Project Dependencies will be included. [DEBUG] Collected project artifacts [joda-time:joda-time:jar:2.3:compile, net.sf.jt400:jt400:jar:6.7:compile, junit:junit:jar:4.11:compile, org.hamcrest:hamcrest-core:jar:1.3:compile, com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core:jar:2.3.0:compile, com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:jar:2.3.0:compile, com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-annotations:jar:2.3.0:compile, org.hamcrest:hamcrest-all:jar:1.3:compile, org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-api:jar:2.0-rc1:compile, org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core:jar:2.0-rc1:compile] [DEBUG] Collected project classpath [C:\workspace\VSP_UnitTest\target\classes] [DEBUG] Adding to classpath : file:/C:/workspace/VSP_UnitTest/target/classes/ [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: joda-time to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: jt400 to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: junit to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: hamcrest-core to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: jackson-core to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: jackson-databind to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: jackson-annotations to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: hamcrest-all to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: log4j-api to classpath [DEBUG] Adding project dependency artifact: log4j-core to classpath [DEBUG] joining on thread Thread[test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment.main(),5,test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment] [WARNING] java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: test.java._tools.BuildTestEnvironment at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:366) at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:424) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:357) at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecJavaMojo$1.run(ExecJavaMojo.java:281) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724) [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] BUILD FAILURE [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Total time: 2.602 s [INFO] Finished at: 2014-05-15T14:38:50-05:00 [INFO] Final Memory: 12M/152M [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------