diff --git a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/BaseMojo.java b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/BaseMojo.java
index 996026fa8b..596d97e65a 100644
--- a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/BaseMojo.java
+++ b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/BaseMojo.java
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ public abstract class BaseMojo extends AbstractMojo {
      */
     @Parameter(defaultValue = "${project.build.directory}/piranha", property = "piranha.runtimeDirectory", required = true)
     protected String runtimeDirectory;
+    
+    /**
+     * Stores the skip property.
+     */
+    @Parameter(defaultValue= "false", property="piranha.skip")
+    protected boolean skip;
 
     /**
      * Stores the version of the Piranha runtime to use.
diff --git a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/RunMojo.java b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/RunMojo.java
index 47d47b2b29..d6b048b774 100644
--- a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/RunMojo.java
+++ b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/RunMojo.java
@@ -46,18 +46,19 @@ public class RunMojo extends BaseMojo {
 
     @Override
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException {
-        try {
-            determineVersionToUse();
-            downloadDistribution();
-            extractDistribution();
-            copyWarFile();
-            startPiranhaAndWait();
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
+        if (!skip) {
+            try {
+                determineVersionToUse();
+                downloadDistribution();
+                extractDistribution();
+                copyWarFile();
+                startPiranhaAndWait();
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
+            }
         }
     }
 
-
     /**
      * Start Piranha using a JAR distribution.
      */
diff --git a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StartMojo.java b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StartMojo.java
index cf345e2151..79c127e088 100644
--- a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StartMojo.java
+++ b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StartMojo.java
@@ -46,14 +46,16 @@ public class StartMojo extends BaseMojo {
 
     @Override
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException {
-        try {
-            determineVersionToUse();
-            downloadDistribution();
-            extractDistribution();
-            copyWarFile();
-            startPiranha();
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
+        if (!skip) {
+            try {
+                determineVersionToUse();
+                downloadDistribution();
+                extractDistribution();
+                copyWarFile();
+                startPiranha();
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -126,7 +128,7 @@ private void startPiranha() throws IOException {
                 startJarPiranha();
             case "zip" ->
                 startZipPiranha();
-            default -> 
+            default ->
                 throw new IOException("Unable to determine distribution");
         }
         File pidFile = new File(runtimeDirectory + "/tmp/piranha.pid");
diff --git a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StopMojo.java b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StopMojo.java
index ab08723b34..4e16dd9aab 100644
--- a/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StopMojo.java
+++ b/maven/plugins/piranha-maven-plugin/src/main/java/cloud/piranha/maven/plugins/piranha/StopMojo.java
@@ -51,24 +51,32 @@ public class StopMojo extends AbstractMojo {
      */
     @Parameter(defaultValue = "${project.build.directory}/piranha", required = true)
     private String runtimeDirectory;
-    
+
+    /**
+     * Stores the skip property.
+     */
+    @Parameter(defaultValue= "false", property="piranha.skip")
+    private boolean skip;
+
     @Override
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException {
-        try {
-            if (!Files.deleteIfExists(new File(
-                    runtimeDirectory, "tmp/piranha.pid").toPath())) {
-                try {
-                    TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(5);
-                } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
-                    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-                }
-                if (Files.deleteIfExists(new File(
-                    runtimeDirectory, "tmp/piranha.pid").toPath())) {
-                    System.err.println("Unable to delete PID file");
+        if (!skip) {
+            try {
+                if (!Files.deleteIfExists(new File(
+                        runtimeDirectory, "tmp/piranha.pid").toPath())) {
+                    try {
+                        TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(5);
+                    } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
+                        Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+                    }
+                    if (Files.deleteIfExists(new File(
+                            runtimeDirectory, "tmp/piranha.pid").toPath())) {
+                        System.err.println("Unable to delete PID file");
+                    }
                 }
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
             }
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            throw new MojoExecutionException(ioe);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d2112beedb..332f6e9273 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -797,9 +797,9 @@
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
-                    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
                     <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
                     <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
+                    <inputEncoding>UTF-8</inputEncoding>
                     <linkXRef>false</linkXRef>
                     <excludes>**/module-info.java</excludes>
                     <checkstyleRules>
diff --git a/test/embedded/springboot-virtualthreads/pom.xml b/test/embedded/springboot-virtualthreads/pom.xml
index db77a348ff..26373ae98e 100644
--- a/test/embedded/springboot-virtualthreads/pom.xml
+++ b/test/embedded/springboot-virtualthreads/pom.xml
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                 <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${spring-boot.version}</version>
                 <configuration>
                   <jvmArguments>
                       --enable-preview --add-modules=jdk.incubator.concurrent
diff --git a/test/embedded/springboot/pom.xml b/test/embedded/springboot/pom.xml
index f9c0df4c1b..3c997aec2b 100644
--- a/test/embedded/springboot/pom.xml
+++ b/test/embedded/springboot/pom.xml
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                 <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${spring-boot.version}</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <!--
                   <jvmArguments>