[FIXED] maven profile should be activated but is not

Issue

I have been using maven for years now but I bumped into an issue. As always I create a repo to illustrate my issue: git clone https://github.com/clembo590/issues.git --branch mavenProfiles

I just created a multi module maven where I expect the QA profile to be active but it is not.

Here is how the parent pom look like:

  <profiles>
    <!-- build mdr-commons ONLY IF PRESENT -->
    <profile>
      <id>mdr-commons</id>
      <activation>
        <file>
          <exists>mdr-commons/pom.xml</exists>
        </file>
      </activation>
      <modules>
        <module>mdr-commons</module>
      </modules>
    </profile>

    <profile>
      <id>QA</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <build>
        <plugins>

          <!-- this is to check that the coded is formatted : you can use 'apply' instead of 'check' to actually format the code -->
          <plugin>
            <groupId>com.diffplug.spotless</groupId>
            <artifactId>spotless-maven-plugin</artifactId>

if you run mvn clean install you will get those logs:

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Reactor Build Order:
[INFO] 
[INFO] mdr-parent                                                         [pom]
[INFO] mdr-commons                                                        [pom]
[INFO] 
[INFO] -----------------------< com.example:mdr-parent >-----------------------
[INFO] Building mdr-parent 1.0.0                                          [1/2]
[INFO] --------------------------------[ pom ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ mdr-parent ---
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-install-plugin:2.4:install (default-install) @ mdr-parent ---
[INFO] Installing ...
[INFO] 
[INFO] ----------------------< com.example:mdr-commons >-----------------------
[INFO] Building mdr-commons 1.0.0                                         [2/2]
[INFO] --------------------------------[ pom ]---------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ mdr-commons ---
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- spotless-maven-plugin:2.11.1:check (default) @ mdr-commons ---
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-install-plugin:2.4:install (default-install) @ mdr-commons ---
[INFO] Installing ...
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

spotless-maven-plugin is not executed when building mdr-parent which means that QA profile is not active when build mdr-parent. (it is active when building mdr-commons)

question 1: why is QA profile not active when building mdr-parent?

question 2: just delete completely the folder called mdr-commons and re run mvn clean install --> why is QA profile active this time ? (you will see in the logs that the spotless-maven-plugin is executed)

thanks in advance maven experts

Solution

The answer can be found in Details on profile activation of the Maven Guide.

TLDR; Profiles which are activeByDefault are deactivated whenever another profile was activated by any other method.

The mdr-commons profile is activated if file mdr-commons/pom.xml exists. In that case, the QA profile is deactivated. If this file does not exist, the QA profile is "active by default".

Answered By - Mihe
Answer Checked By - Marilyn (JavaFixing Volunteer)