Advanced parameters

There are extra parameters that can be used when running the Sonar maven plugin.

Hide sources

Sometimes, for security or other reasons, project sources must not be published.

option	sonar.importSources
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.5

Inject historical data

When using Sonar, it becomes quickly necessary to input historical data and to highlight some events. It is possible by going for example in a tag and use the sonar.projectDate option. By default, the version name to be used is the one in the pom.xml, but it is possible to override it using the sonar.projectVersion option.

option	sonar.projectDate & sonar.projectVersion
usage
from pom.xml	N/A
version	since 1.5

Exclude resources

The resources (classes/packages) to exclude from analysis are configured online in the project settings page. This configuration can also be set maven-side :

option	sonar.exclusions
value	comma-separated list of wildcard patterns. Example : */generated/,/Bean.java
version	since 1.8

Exclude modules

Some project modules should not be analyzed and consolidated with global project measures, for instance samples, integration tests or generated code.

option	sonar.skippedModules
usage
from pom.xml	N/A
since version	1.5

Manage SCM branches

It is possible to run the Sonar maven plugin on a branch.

option	branch
usage
from pom.xml
since version	1.3

Define the quality profile to be used

Through the Sonar web interface, you can define as many quality profiles as you want and you can easily associate one of this quality profile to a given project. You can also make this association by using the property "sonar.profile". The value of this property overload any configuration made in the Sonar web interface.

option	sonar.profile
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.6

Dynamic analysis

Dynamic analysis relates to unit tests execution. By default, those unit tests are executed but you can optionally decide to do only static analysis or to reuse existing unit tests reports.

option	sonar.dynamicAnalysis
values	true (default) false. Replace the deprecated parameter 'sonar.light=true' for non-maven projects. reuseReports : reuse XML files found on disk
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.7

option	sonar.surefire.reportsPath
values	the absolute or relative path of the surfire reports directory
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.7

option	sonar.cobertura.reportPath
values	the absolute or relative path of the cobertura xml report file
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.7

option	sonar.clover.reportPath
values	the absolute or relative path of the clover xml report file
usage
from pom.xml
version	since 1.7

Skip install phase

In order for Sonar to run properly, the program must be compiled at some point. Until v. 1.4, the Sonar maven plugin was running an install goal by default. This phase can be skipped, for example for performance reasons.

Deprecated since Sonar 1.5 : the install phase is not executed anymore.

option	sonar.skipInstall
usage
from pom.xml	N/A
version	before 1.5

Using environment variables

It is possible since v 1.5 to use environment variables in the sonar.properties file.

To use an environment variable, use the following syntax : ${env:NAME_OF_ENV_VARIABLE}.

For example :

Setting absolute path for extensions

It is possible to define an absolute path for extensions in the sonar.properties file. This parameter is useful when Sonar is deployed as a WAR. It avoids from packaging the WAR file each time extensions JARs are updated. The directory contains subdirectories like checkstyle/ and pmd/

Example