@ContextConfiguration annotation has 'inheritLocations' and 'inheritInitializers' elements which specify whether configuration locations (config classes/resources) and context initializers declared by superclasses should be inherited. By default both flags are true. That means a test subclass inherits both the config locations as well as the context initializers declared by any superclasses. Let's understand that with examples.
Using default i.e. inheritLocations=true and inheritInitializers=true
A Spring application
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
@Service
public interface CustomerService {
String getCustomerById(String id);
}
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
@Service
public interface OrderService {
String getOrdersForCustomer(String customerId);
}
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
@Bean
public CustomerService customerService() {
return new CustomerService() {
@Override
public String getCustomerById(String id) {
return "Customer " + id;
}
};
}
}
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@Configuration
public class AppConfigExtended {
@Bean
public OrderService orderService() {
return new OrderService() {
@Override
public String getOrdersForCustomer(String customerId) {
return "orders for customer " + customerId;
}
};
}
}
Test Folder
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextInitializer;
import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
public class MyContextInitializer implements
ApplicationContextInitializer<ConfigurableApplicationContext> {
@Override
public void initialize(ConfigurableApplicationContext ac) {
System.out.println("-- in context initializer --");
}
}
The Test classes
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.util.Assert;
@ContextConfiguration(classes = AppConfig.class,
initializers = MyContextInitializer.class)
public class BaseServiceTests {
@Autowired
private CustomerService customerService;
@Test
public void testCustomerById() {
String customer = customerService.getCustomerById("323");
System.out.println("-- CustomerById test --");
System.out.println(customer);
Assert.notNull(customer, "customer is null for id 323");
}
}
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;
import org.springframework.util.Assert;
@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
@ContextConfiguration(classes = AppConfigExtended.class)
public class ExtendedServiceTests extends BaseServiceTests {
@Autowired
private OrderService orderService;
@Test
public void testOrderCustomer() {
String orders = orderService.getOrdersForCustomer("323");
System.out.println("-- OrdersByCustomer test --");
System.out.println(orders);
Assert.notNull(orders, "Orders is null for id 323");
}
}
D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\context-configuration-inheritance-example-2>mvn test -Dtest=ExtendedServiceTests
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] --< com.logicbig.example:context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 >--
[INFO] Building context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\context-configuration-inheritance-example-2\src\main\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:compile (default-compile) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\context-configuration-inheritance-example-2\src\test\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- surefire:3.2.5:test (default-test) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example-2 ---
[INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider
[WARNING] file.encoding cannot be set as system property, use <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=...</argLine> instead
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running com.logicbig.example.ExtendedServiceTests
-- in context initializer --
-- CustomerById test --
Customer 323
-- OrdersByCustomer test --
orders for customer 323
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.329 s -- in com.logicbig.example.ExtendedServiceTests
[INFO]
[INFO] Results:
[INFO]
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 1.852 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-02-06T14:01:37+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Setting inheritLocations = false and inheritInitializers = false
With the same above Spring application, let's don't inherit config locations (the config class) from the super class by setting inheritLocations=false. We will also provide an alternative configuration which will replace the super class's one.
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.util.Assert;
@ContextConfiguration(
inheritLocations = false,
inheritInitializers = false,
classes = {
AppConfigExtended.class, OtherAppConfig.class
})
public class ExtendedServiceTests extends BaseServiceTests {
@Autowired
private OrderService orderService;
.............
}
package com.logicbig.example;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@Configuration
public class OtherAppConfig {
@Bean
public CustomerService customerService() {
return new CustomerService() {
@Override
public String getCustomerById(String id) {
return "Other Customer " + id;
}
};
}
}
Running ExtendedServiceTests
$ mvn test -Dtest=ExtendedServiceTests
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ---< com.logicbig.example:context-configuration-inheritance-example >---
[INFO] Building context-configuration-inheritance-example 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] from pom.xml
[INFO] --------------------------------[ jar ]---------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:resources (default-resources) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\context-configuration-inheritance-example\src\main\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:compile (default-compile) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- resources:3.3.1:testResources (default-testResources) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example ---
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory D:\example-projects\spring-core-testing\context-configuration-inheritance-example\src\test\resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- compiler:3.3:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- surefire:3.2.5:test (default-test) @ context-configuration-inheritance-example ---
[INFO] Using auto detected provider org.apache.maven.surefire.junitplatform.JUnitPlatformProvider
[WARNING] file.encoding cannot be set as system property, use <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=...</argLine> instead
[INFO]
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] T E S T S
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Running com.logicbig.example.ExtendedServiceTests
-- CustomerById test --
Other Customer 323
-- OrdersByCustomer test --
orders for customer 323
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.327 s -- in com.logicbig.example.ExtendedServiceTests
[INFO]
[INFO] Results:
[INFO]
[INFO] Tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 1.859 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2026-02-06T14:01:27+08:00
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example ProjectDependencies and Technologies Used: - spring-context 7.0.3 (Spring Context)
Version Compatibility: 5.0.0.RELEASE - 7.0.3 Version compatibilities of spring-context with this example: Versions in green have been tested.
- spring-test 7.0.3 (Spring TestContext Framework)
- junit-jupiter-engine 6.0.2 (Module "junit-jupiter-engine" of JUnit)
- JDK 25
- Maven 3.9.11
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