Maven Failsafe plugin

Maven Failsafe plugin

\epigraph{ The Failsafe Plugin is designed to run integration tests while the Surefire Plugin is designed to run unit tests. The name (failsafe) was chosen both because it is a synonym of surefire and because it implies that when it fails, it does so in a safe way. }{Apache \href{https://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-failsafe-plugin/}{Failsafe plugin}}

What is the Failsafe plugin?

As the quote from the Apache project website suggests, this is a plugin designed to run integration tests safely. It extends Maven to add a number of phases to the project model to handle setting up the tests, running them, then cleaning up afterwards.

Maven plugin

Adding a configuration to the pom.xml will enable the Failsafe plugin for the build in Maven.

``` {.xml language=”XML”}

org.apache.maven.plugins maven-failsafe-plugin 2.18.1

Version 2.18.1 was the latest when this section was produced, however
there may be newer versions that add or change functionality or correct
deviant behaviour. You should use an appropriate version depending on
your test environment.

#### Invoking integration tests

Integration tests should be run using the Maven verify phase

    mvn verify

There's a warning on the project site that you shouldn't directly invoke
'integration-test' goal as it won't run the post test actions, which
really does defeat the purpose of this plugin, although theoretically
this might be desirable if you plan to completely discard the system
under test afterwards by rolling back a disk image or if you are using
an in-memory data store that is completely refreshed on every test
cycle.

The Surefire plugin
===================

\epigraph{
The Surefire Plugin is used during the test phase of the build lifecycle to execute the unit tests of an application. It generates reports in two different file formats
}{Apache \href{https://maven.apache.org/surefire/maven-surefire-plugin/index.html}{Surefire plugin}}
#### What is the Surefire plugin?

Surefire will run your unit tests, and is commonly bound to the 'test'
phase for this purpose. It has only one goal surefire:test which runs
the application tests.

#### Maven plugin

Adding a configuration to the pom.xml will enable the Surefire plugin
for the build in Maven.

``` {.xml language="XML"}
<plugin>                       
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.16</version> 
</plugin>

Obviously, there may be a newer version by the time you read this.