Eclipse: Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:exec (default): Command execution failed

Question

Error:

LeveneS@WS3748 MINGW64 /h/Test Coding/workspace/[REDACTED] (REPOBRANCH)
$ mvn test
[DEBUG] -----------------------------------------------------------------------
...
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:exec (default) on project [REDACTED]: Command execution failed. Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1) -> [Help 1]
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:exec (default) on project [REDACTED]: Command execution failed.
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:213)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:154)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:146)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.executeForkedExecutions(MojoExecutor.java:353)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:198)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:154)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:146)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:117)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:81)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:56)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:128)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:305)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:192)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:105)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:956)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:290)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:194)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:289)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:229)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:415)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:356)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: Command execution failed.
at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.execute(ExecMojo.java:362)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:137)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:208)
... 24 more
Caused by: org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: 1 (Exit value: 1)
at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.executeInternal(DefaultExecutor.java:377)
at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute(DefaultExecutor.java:160)
at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.executeCommandLine(ExecMojo.java:610)
at org.codehaus.mojo.exec.ExecMojo.execute(ExecMojo.java:352)
... 26 more
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoExecutionException

I am using Eclipse to run a test automation software with JUnit and Java-Cucumber; to which I need to use exec-maven-plugin as my glue to identify my classpath to link the .feature files to the step-definition file.

I want to create a Surefire-report regardless if a test passes or fails (I want to see it if it fails, especially)

I have narrowed down the problem to my POM's interpretation of the plugins themselves

POM

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>[REDACTED]</groupId>
  <artifactId>[REDACTED]</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <properties>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
  </properties>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>3.1</version>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.16</version>
        <configuration>
          <skipTests>true</skipTests>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.1</version>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <phase>test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>exec</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <classpathScope>test</classpathScope>
              <executable>java</executable>
              <arguments>
                <argument>-classpath</argument>
                <classpath />
                <argument>cucumber.api.cli.Main</argument>
                <argument>--plugin</argument>
                <argument>json:${project.build.directory}/cuke-results.json</argument>
                <argument>--glue</argument>
                <argument>com.example</argument>
                <argument>--strict</argument>
                <argument>${basedir}/src/test/java/com/example</argument>
              </arguments>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
      <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
      <version>3.3.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>4.11</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>info.cukes</groupId>
      <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
      <version>1.2.3</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>info.cukes</groupId>
      <artifactId>cucumber-junit</artifactId>
      <version>1.2.3</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.json</groupId>
      <artifactId>json</artifactId>
      <version>20180813</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

I've tried to search other such issues (where other people are using NetBeans); but I've come up short on understanding why my particular version works when there are no test errors, but as soon as I intentionally sabotage the test to fail, this above occurs.

Answer 1

Thanks to @user944849, it turns out that the root cause was an older version of Surefire reporting plugin! I found a new version released in December 2018 ( Link Here )

For those of you who'd like to see the updated plugin, here it is:

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.0.0-M3</version>
</plugin>