We can provide settingsFile as one of constructor argument.

This value is used only for detecting Maven local repository, not is used as settings for tested Maven project.

Detecting Maven local repository path is done in order by - first wins:

• value in provided by setLocalRepo methods
• value in maven.repo.local system property
• parsing file provided as settingsFile - from constructor argument
• parsing $HOME/.m2/settings.xml - can be different set by -s options

Proposition

remove this arguments at all, and introduce new system property (like): settings.localRepository

Than we can detect Maven local repository in order by:

• value in provided by setLocalRepo  (by the way we have getLocalRepository)
• value in system property settings.localRepository
• throw exception if not found - we always need this value for rest of methods like get|delete|verifyArtifact..

We can provide settings.localRepository by surefire config:

        <plugin>
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
          <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
            <systemPropertyVariables>
              <settings.localRepository>${settings.localRepository}</settings.localRepository>
            </systemPropertyVariables>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>

With such configuration we always have correct path, not important if

• user provide -Dmaven.repo.local= as Maven build property
• user provide custom settings path by -s