@khmarbaise is right with his recommendation (so +1 for that) but I want to answer your question without speculating about the reasons why the test source are located somewhere else.
If your tests are located in another directory than the standard src/test/java
directory, the most simple solution is to change the default value of the testSourceDirectory
configuration parameter which is defined in the Super POM.
e.g. for src/foobar/java
use
<build>
<testSourceDirectory>src/foobar/java</testSourceDirectory>
</build>
then you can simply run mvn test
to execute the tests.
More complex solution...
If you do not want to change the pom.xml configuration you can specifiy the testSourceDirectory parameter on the command line like this:
mvn -DtestSourceDirectory=src/foobar/java clean test
But be sure that your sources are compiled. Otherwise they will not be found and executed. In the above example the test sources are not placed at a location that gets compiled by default, so we nevertheless have to change the pom and add the directory to the list of test sources by using the buildhelper plugin:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.8</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>add-test-source</id>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>add-test-source</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<sources>
<source>src/foobar/java</source>
</sources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
If you do not want to change the configuration of the default value in the pom and not want to pass the new directory at the commandline you have to configure the path in the maven-buildhelper-plugin and the maven-surefire-plugin in your pom.xml like this:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.8</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>add-test-source</id>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>add-test-source</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<sources>
<source>src/foobar/java</source>
</sources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.14.1</version>
<configuration>
<testSourceDirectory>src/foobar/java</testSourceDirectory>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
Now again the simple usage of mvn test
will execute the test at the not standard location.