How do I exclude certain modules from a Maven build using the commandline

Maven Problem Overview

Is there a way to exclude some modules from a big reactor build, similar to -pl ?

Here are a number of ways to do it persistently:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5539348/how-to-exclude-a-module-from-a-maven-reactor-build

I want to do it from shell, or at least without modifying the poms, which I am not allowed to change.

Maven Solutions

Solution 1 - Maven

Maven 3.2.1 has added this feature, you can use to specify the exact projects you want (or to exclude the projects you don't want) -pl or --projects Here's how to exclude two:

-pl "!<modulename>,!<modulename2>"

for exclude certain modules. This can be comma separated list of values that you want to include/exclude.

Update For windows user following

> mvn clean [package|install] --projects \!groupId:artifactId

Solution 2 - Maven

Another comment on the accepted answer, don't forget to escape the exclamation sign when running the command in bash:

> mvn clean install -pl \!module,\!module/submodule,\!groupId:artifactId

Solution 3 - Maven

As Yogesh_D wrote it can be done with the -pl argument with maven 3.2.1+

Here's an example:

> mvn clean install -amd -pl !module,!module/submodule

You need to list every sub-module (and sub-sub-module etc) manually, it does not exclude them recursively. Use the slash for package separation. It's the folder path, not the group or artifact id.

Solution 4 - Maven

I don't believe this is currently possible from the command line. There is an open feature request in maven3 for this very thing (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNG-5230).

Looks like your only option at this point is to modify the pom and create a new build profile that includes only the modules you want to build.

Solution 5 - Maven

Instead of using exclamation ! sign you can use minus - sign.

mvn clean -pl -module1

You can also exclude multiple modules.

mvn clean -pl -module1,-module2

mvn clean -pl -module1 -pl -module2

Tested with:

Apache Maven 3.5.4 (1edded0938998edf8bf061f1ceb3cfdeccf443fe; 2018-06-17T20:33:14+02:00)
Apache Maven 3.6.3 (cecedd343002696d0abb50b32b541b8a6ba2883f)

Excluded modules must be in reactor of current project, so we can't exclude no existing module.

mvn clean -pl -no-existing-module

currently will fail - https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNG-7033

Solution 6 - Maven

in 2019 it's

mvn install -pl !:module1

(Windows 10 cmd)

Solution 7 - Maven

comma separated module name enclosed with double quotes. eg::

mvn install -pl "!Module1, !Module2"

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Bastl	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Maven	Yogesh_D	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Maven	Radu	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Maven	Gonfi den Tschal	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Maven	gregwhitaker	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Maven	Slawomir Jaranowski	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Maven	davidluckystar	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Maven	Nirbhay Rana	View Answer on Stackoverflow