Different Checkstyle Rules For Main And Test In Maven

Question

I am trying to setup a maven project such that I will be able to run checkstyle using two distinct rule sets: one for main, and one for test. What I would like to do is something along the lines of:

<reporting>
  <plugins>
    <!-- One configuration for main -->
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <configLocation>checkstyle</configLocation>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
    <!-- But a different set of rules for test -->
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <sourceDirectory>${project.build.testSourceDirectory}</sourceDirectory>
        <configLocation>checkstyle-test.xml</configLocation>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</reporting>

I have been successfully able to run one version or the other, but not both at the sames time. Including trying to bind them to different executions phases, but it seems the rule of thumb is the last definition is the only one used.

So I would either like to:

-Ideally - have two seperate checkstyle configuration files that can be run independently

OR

-Have a single checkstyle config, use the config property includeTestSourceDirectory to check main and test at the same time, but have some rules selectively applied to one of main/test or the other.

If you run different executions you give the execution section a unique id than the order of definition defines the order of execution. — khmarbaise, May 03 '11 at 16:48
Try the solution from this thread: [Checkstyle different rules for different files](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25894431/1005481) — barfuin, Sep 17 '14 at 18:56

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 17 '11 at 13:53

I have been unable to find any mechanism by which different checkstyle rules can be applied to different source roots at compile time (the other answer may work for report generation, but my needs are specifically compile time checking). The solution implemented is to have the rules that apply to source and then use the checkstyle supressions mechanism to exclude certain rules on the test classes i.e.

<suppress checks="CheckInappropiateForTests" files=".*Test\.java"/>

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 03 '11 at 16:47

What about the following:

   <reporting>
     <plugins>
     <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.6</version>
        <reportSets>
          <reportSet>
            <id>main_checks</id>
            <reports>
              <report>checkstyle</report>
            </reports>
            <configuration>
              <sourceDirectory>${project.build.sourceDirectory}</sourceDirectory>
              <includeTestSourceDirectory>false</includeTestSourceDirectory>
              <configLocation>config/maven_checks.xml</configLocation>
              <outputDirectory>${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/main-checks/</outputDirectory>
            </configuration>
          </reportSet>
          <reportSet>
            <id>test_checks</id>
            <reports>
              <report>checkstyle</report>
            </reports>
            <configuration>
              <sourceDirectory></sourceDirectory>
              <testSourceDirectory>${project.build.testSourceDirectory}</testSourceDirectory>
              <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
              <configLocation>config/sun_checks.xml</configLocation>
              <outputDirectory>${project.reporting.outputDirectory}/test-checks/</outputDirectory>
            </configuration>
          </reportSet>
        </reportSets>
      </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </reporting>

I think it's better to work with suppression filters as described in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25894431/checkstyle-different-rules-for-different-files this will also work for checkstyle:check. — britter, Aug 09 '17 at 07:20

alu · Answer 3 · 2020-08-28T14:53:26.583

I found using this tip, applied to checktyle plugin, simpler. In my case, it looks like this :

                <plugin>
                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                    <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
                    <executions>
                        <execution>
                            <id>checkstyle</id>
                            <goals>
                                <goal>check</goal>
                            </goals>
                            <phase>verify</phase>
                            <configuration>
                                <configLocation>some location</configLocation>
                            </configuration>
                        </execution>
                        <execution>
                            <id>checkstyle2</id>
                            <goals>
                                <goal>check</goal>
                            </goals>
                            <phase>verify</phase>
                            <configuration>
                                <configLocation>some other location</configLocation>
                            </configuration>
                        </execution>
                    </executions>
                </plugin>

Different Checkstyle Rules For Main And Test In Maven

3 Answers3