The following document says you can indicate some pom.xml dependencies as optional: http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-optional-and-... Adrian clarified that some classes (for unit testing) as part of src/main/java extend junit.framework.TestCase and the JBoss test classes. See http://jira.jboss.com/jira/browse/JBMICROCONT-198 Although these test classes could be refactored out, perhaps using an (optional)true(/optional) would be effective as well. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4068013#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...