This post is older than a year. Consider some information might not be accurate anymore.
Used: maven v2.1
If case you want to test or build only a project (sub module) you have several options since Maven 2.1
This example maven project has sub module which generates an rpm package.
coolapp
|-- api
|-- impl
|-- db
|-- ear
|-- deploy
|-- rpm
|-- deb
|-- osgi
Invoking the maven goal rpm:rpm applies only to the project rpm.
Invoking on path coolapp
mvn rpm:rpm --projects deploy/rpm
# short form
mvn rpm:rpm -pl deploy/rpm
If you want to also build dependencies
mvn rpm:rpm --projects --also-make deploy/rpm
# short form
mvn rpm:rpm -pl -am deploy/rpm
Take also a look at advanced reactor options.
