If I understand correctly you want both log4j-core main classes and test 
classes be distributed as modularized jars.
To me with JPMS you should move the modularized test-classes to a separate 
Maven module as a first citizen artifact.
That should make it a lot easier.
It should also make the separation more clear: classes under 
target/test-classes are there to unittest its main classes.
Whereas this new module contains reusable (main) code for testing (which should 
be tested too ;) )
I understand that this will change the GA(-classifier) for the testing module, 
but to me for a good reason.

Even with your very small reduction of steps to simplify the process, it 
doesn't fit in the default lifecycle unless you write you introduce a new 
lifecycle-binding or write a new extension.

Robert

On 22-6-2021 07:02:59, Ralph Goers <ralph.go...@dslextreme.com> wrote:
Sorry for posting again. I really need to proof-read better. Please ignore the 
prior email.

I have recently had quite an adventure modifying several of Log4j’s Maven 
modules to
implement JPMS on our master branch. It was an adventure due to a few issues:

1. https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=JDK-8265826 .
This bug has been fixed in Java 17 but Log4j uses Java 11 to build.
2. Log4j-plugins builds an annotation processor, packages it with the 
annotations
and classes necessary to build and run plugins, creates and test jar and runs 
unit tests.
3. It is not possible to compile an annotation processor with a 
module-info.java present.
The compile will fail because it can’t find the annotation processor “service” 
when
compiling module-info.java.
4. It is very difficult to compile an annotation processor and then use it in 
the same Maven
module. JPMS expects the annotation processor to either be on the classpath or 
specified
with the processorpath option. When a module-info.java is present, Maven 
automatically
moves everything to the module path. Maven only supports using coordinates to 
specify the
processor path, which don’t exist when the processor is in the same module. The 
only way
to solve this is to compile all the classes with proc=only without a 
module-info.java present.
5. Although number 4 might seem bad, it really doesn’t matter because javac 
will fail if a
module-info.java is present because module-info.java will have a reference to 
the service
class being generated by the annotation processor and for some reason 
module-info.java
is resolved before the annotation processor runs.
6. If the main set of classes are compiled with a module-info.java every other 
compile
in the Maven module must also be modularized. Likewise, if the main module does
not contain a module-info.java no other compile can either.
7. JPMS requires that every module have its own package space with no overlap
with any other JPMS module.

So while generating the log4j-plugins module is quite painful, generating 
log4j-core isn’t
much better. That is actually the primary focus for this list.

Log4j-core consists of the main classes packaged in the jar, a test jar that is 
used by
downstream Maven modules, and the unit tests. Prior to JPMS one would just 
create
the main jar and then package all the test classes and unit tests in a test 
jar. This can
no longer be done with JPMS.

When a project publishes a test jar along with the main jar, just like any 
other JPMS
module. the test jar cannot use the package space of the main classes. Log4j 
core
uses org.apache.logging.log4j.core so I placed all the test utility classes 
under
org.apache.logging.log4j.core.test. However, the unit tests all need to be 
packaged
in the main package space since its module-info.java “extends” the main module 
and
several unit tests are required to be in the same main package so that they can 
access
package private methods specifically provided for testing.

In order to get this to work I had to perform the following steps:

• Compile all the main classes except module-info.java with the Plugin 
annotation processor.
• Compile the main module-info.java.
• Compile the test classes used by other modules with module-info.java and
using the plugin preprocessor.
• Package these test classes in a test jar.
• Delete the module-info and generated source for the test classes.
• Move the main module-info to a temp location.
• Compile the unit test classes without module-info.java.
• Move the main module-info back to the classes directory.
• Compile module-info.java for unit tests.
• Run the unit tests.
• Create the main jar if the unit tests pass.

Were it not for JDK-8265826 I believe this could have been simplified somewhat 
to:

• Compile all the main classes except module-info.java with the Plugin 
annotation processor.
• Compile the main module-info.java.
• Compile the test classes used by other modules with its module-info.java and
using the plugin preprocessor.
• Package these test classes in a test jar.
• Delete the module-info and generated source for the test classes.
• Compile the unit test classes with its module-info.java.
• Compile module-info.java for unit tests.
• Run the unit tests.
• Create the main jar if the unit tests pass.

So the gist of this entire email is pretty simple. Is there a way Maven could 
be modified
to better support creating test jars with JPMS?

Ralph

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