Jacoco not producting any output (Maven and Spring Boot)

Question

We have a multi-module Java Maven project structured like this:

parent
├── child-1
├── child-2
└── common

There is no code in the parent, and the code and tests are mostly in common.

We want to generate a code coverage report per submodule (not a single global report for the entire project).

According to the SonarQube documentation for Java test coverage, we just need to add this configuration to the parent POM:

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
            <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>0.8.13</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <id>prepare-agent</id>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
                <execution>
                    <id>report</id>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>report</goal>
                    </goals>
                    <configuration>
                        <formats>
                            <format>XML</format>
                        </formats>
                    </configuration>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

When we run

mvn clean verify

in the parent directory, we see this in the logs:

[INFO] — jacoco:0.8.13:prepare-agent (prepare-agent) @ my-service —
[INFO] argLine set to -javaagent:C:\Users\me\.m2\repository\org\jacoco\org.jacoco.agent\0.8.13\org.jacoco.agent-0.8.13-runtime.jar=destfile=C:\Users\me\dev\my-service\target\jacoco.exec
[INFO] --- jacoco:0.8.13:report (report) @ my-service ---^M
[INFO] Skipping JaCoCo execution due to missing execution data file.^M

However, no output is generated—no XML files, no .exec files, and no target/site/jacoco directories in the parent or any submodules.

The Sonar docs say:

"By default, the generated report will be saved under target/site/jacoco/jacoco.xml"

But this directory doesn't exist after running the commands.

Here is where it gets different, if we run

mvn clean verify sonar:sonar

we do not see the above jacoco:0.8.13:prepare-agent in the output.

If push these changes to the PR, the Bitbucket Sonar pipeline re-runs, and we see this in the output:

[INFO] argLine set to -javaagent:/root/.m2/repository/org/jacoco/org.jacoco.agent/0.8.13/org.jacoco.agent-0.8.13-runtime.jar=destfile=/opt/atlassian/pipelines/agent/build/target/jacoco.exec
[INFO] --- jacoco:0.8.13:report (report) @ my-service ---
[INFO] Skipping JaCoCo execution due to missing execution data file.

If we check a submodule's target directory, we see:

d-----        15/05/2025     14:34                classes
d-----        17/06/2025     15:15                generated-sources
d-----        17/06/2025     15:15                generated-test-sources
d-----        29/05/2025     17:35                maven-archiver
d-----        29/05/2025     17:35                maven-status
d-----        17/06/2025     15:16                surefire-reports
d-----        29/05/2025     17:35                test-classes

There’s no jacoco.exec file or coverage output. The parent module also doesn't have a target directory.

We expected Sonar to handle code coverage using the config from the documentation, but it's not working.

We also tried adding the phase (but didn't help):

    <execution>
       <id>report</id>
       <goals>
          <goal>report</goal>
       </goals>
       <phase>verify</phase>

NOTE: we don't have any configuration in parent or child poms for surefire. The tests run fine without it.

Here is our full parent/pom.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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 
                             https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.4.4</version>
    </parent>

    <properties>
        <sonar.organization>xxx</sonar.organization>
        <sonar.host.url>https://sonarcloud.io</sonar.host.url>
    </properties>

    <groupId>com.xx.xx</groupId>
    <artifactId>xx-xx-service</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <name>xx-xx-service</name>
    <description>xx service</description>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>

    <modules>
        <module>xx-common</module>
        <module>xx-api</module>
        <module>xx-schedule</module>
    </modules>

    <profiles>
        <profile>
            <id>coverage</id>
            <build>
                <plugins>
                    <plugin>
                        <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                        <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                        <version>0.8.13</version>
                        <executions>
                            <execution>
                                <id>prepare-agent</id>
                                <goals>
                                    <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
                                </goals>
                            </execution>
                            <execution>
                                <id>report</id>
                                <goals>
                                    <goal>report</goal>
                                </goals>
                                <configuration>
                                    <formats>
                                        <format>XML</format>
                                    </formats>
                                </configuration>
                            </execution>
                        </executions>
                    </plugin>
                </plugins>
            </build>
        </profile>
    </profiles>
</project>

We also tried running:

mvn org.sonarsource.scanner.maven:sonar-maven-plugin:sonar -Pcoverage

Still no Jacoco output.

I tried setting output to file in the config:

    <plugin>
        <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
        <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>0.8.13</version>
            <configuration>
                 <output>file</output>
                     <append>true</append>
                 </configuration>

What can I try next? We’re new to Jacoco and thought Sonar would handle the coverage reporting, but it doesn't seem to be working using the documentation’s configuration.

khmarbaise · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-19 15:22:37Z

0

The used configuration is given as the following:

<configuration>
  <formats>
    <format>XML</format>
  </formats>
</configuration>

But the configuration must be done like this:

<configuration>
  <formats>XML</formats>
</configuration>

https://www.jacoco.org/jacoco/trunk/doc/report-mojo.html

answered Jun 19 at 15:22

khmarbaise

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2 Comments

John Little Jun 19 at 15:44

Thanks, I tried this but it didn't help unfortunately.

khmarbaise Jun 19 at 23:29

You should of course run mvn clean verify and check if output has been produces...

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