Running a java test class in a maven project on the command line

Sometimes I need to write a quick one-off Java test class against a developer's maven project or class within a maven project.

Easy to do locally on my Mac but my Mac is not a production environment.

In this case this necessitates that I run this test class on a remote machine (UNIX or Windows) where I'd rather not setup a full development environment and most likely have command line access.

Given a minimal production environment the requirements are : I can compile the developer's class, supporting classes and libraries, my test class, and then test the resulting service; in this case a small micro service the developer created.

Pre-requisites, in my case, needed on the remote machine are :

1) Java

2) GIT

3) Maven

4) If needed, the service deployed and running under systemd. 

Once I have the first three components installed, I clone the GIT repository and then try to build the maven project, usually with a mvn clean install -Dmaven.test.skip=true.

If I have any dependencies to this project, I try to use a library manager referenced in a settings.xml file under .m2 (like Artifactory) to make the project compile.

If this succeeds, I try to compile my stand-alone test class. Since I'd rather not run the developer's unit integration tests I run this command :

mvn install -DskipTests

This allows my class to compile. If this works I then I run this command :

mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="com.[path to my test class].[my test class name]" -Dexec.classpathScope=test -e

Running this command allowed me to launch the Java driver program that then - in this case - created a new instance of the developer's monitor class that would run in it's own Thread through Runnable, which I could subsequently test.