diff --git a/checkstyle/src/plugin-test/project.properties b/checkstyle/src/plugin-test/project.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..37650b5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checkstyle/src/plugin-test/project.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# required so it can be called from reactor
+maven.checkstyle.header.file = ${basedir}/LICENSE.txt