diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fb076cdc..27a0b125 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -168,6 +168,11 @@
       <artifactId>commons-exec</artifactId>
       <version>1.3</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+	  <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>
+	  <artifactId>maven-common-artifact-filters</artifactId>
+	  <version>3.0.0</version>
+    </dependency>
 
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/AbstractExecMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/AbstractExecMojo.java
index 0899b53b..12c2a0b4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/AbstractExecMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/AbstractExecMojo.java
@@ -20,20 +20,24 @@
  */
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
-import org.apache.maven.model.Resource;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.factory.ArtifactFactory;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.metadata.ArtifactMetadataSource;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolver;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.filter.ArtifactFilter;
+import org.apache.maven.model.Resource;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Component;
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Parameter;
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProjectBuilder;
+import org.apache.maven.shared.artifact.filter.PatternIncludesArtifactFilter;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.cli.CommandLineUtils;
 
 /**
@@ -140,6 +144,17 @@ public abstract class AbstractExecMojo
      */
     @Parameter( property = "addOutputToClasspath", defaultValue = "true" )
     private boolean addOutputToClasspath;
+    
+    
+    /**
+     * List of dependencies to exclude from the test classpath. Each dependency string must follow the format
+     * <i>groupId:artifactId</i>. For example: <i>org.acme:project-a</i>
+     *
+     * @since 1.5.1
+     */
+    @Parameter( property = "exec.classpathDependencyExcludes" )
+    private String[] classpathDependencyExcludes;
+
 
     /**
      * Collects the project artifacts in the specified List and the project specific classpath (build output and build
@@ -192,10 +207,44 @@ else if ( "system".equals( classpathScope ) )
         {
             throw new IllegalStateException( "Invalid classpath scope: " + classpathScope );
         }
-
+        
         getLog().debug( "Collected project artifacts " + artifacts );
+        //filter dependency
+        if ( classpathDependencyExcludes != null )
+        {
+            ArtifactFilter dependencyFilter =
+                new PatternIncludesArtifactFilter( Arrays.asList( classpathDependencyExcludes ) );
+           List<Artifact> filterList = this.filterArtifacts( artifacts, dependencyFilter );
+           artifacts.clear();
+           artifacts.addAll(filterList);
+           getLog().debug( "Collected project artifacts after filter " + artifacts );
+        }
+
+        
         getLog().debug( "Collected project classpath " + theClasspathFiles );
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Return a new set containing only the artifacts accepted by the given filter.
+     *
+     * @param artifacts The unfiltered artifacts
+     * @param filter    The filter to apply
+     * @return The filtered result
+     */
+    private List<Artifact> filterArtifacts( List<Artifact> artifacts, ArtifactFilter filter )
+    {
+        List<Artifact> filteredArtifacts = new ArrayList<Artifact>();
+
+        for ( Artifact artifact : artifacts )
+        {
+            if ( !filter.include( artifact ) )
+            {
+                filteredArtifacts.add( artifact );
+            }
+        }
+
+        return filteredArtifacts;
+    }
 
     /**
      * Parses the argument string given by the user. Strings are recognized as everything between STRING_WRAPPER.
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecJavaMojoTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecJavaMojoTest.java
index 33389de6..1c26ae2c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecJavaMojoTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/mojo/exec/ExecJavaMojoTest.java
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.DefaultArtifactRepository;
@@ -135,6 +137,32 @@ public void testWaitNoDaemonThreads()
 
         assertEquals( MainWithThreads.ALL_EXITED, output.trim() );
     }
+    
+    
+
+    public void testClasspathDependencyExcludes()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+    	File pom = new File( getBasedir(), "src/test/projects/project15/pom.xml" );
+    	String output = executeDebug( pom, "java" );
+    	String expectedExcludeDependency = "commons-logging:commons-logging";
+    
+    	Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(".*?Collected project artifacts \\[(.*?)\\].*");
+    	Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(output.trim()); 
+    	String result = expectedExcludeDependency;
+    	//check it present in project dependency
+    	if(matcher.find()){
+    		pattern = Pattern.compile(".*?Collected project artifacts after filter \\[(.*?)\\].*");
+    		matcher = pattern.matcher(output.trim());
+    		//check it present after filter
+    		if(matcher.find()){
+    			result = matcher.group(0);
+    		}
+    	}
+    	
+    	assertFalse(result.contains(expectedExcludeDependency) );
+    }
+    
 
     /**
      * For cases where the Java code spawns Threads and main returns soon, but code contains non interruptible threads.
@@ -235,6 +263,52 @@ private String execute( File pom, String goal )
 
         return stringOutputStream.toString();
     }
+    
+    
+    /**
+     * @return output from System.out during mojo execution
+     */
+    private String executeDebug( File pom, String goal )
+        throws Exception
+    {
+
+        ExecJavaMojo mojo;
+        mojo = (ExecJavaMojo) lookupMojo( goal, pom );
+
+        setUpProject( pom, mojo );
+
+        MavenProject project = (MavenProject) getVariableValueFromObject( mojo, "project" );
+
+        // why isn't this set up by the harness based on the default-value? TODO get to bottom of this!
+        setVariableValueToObject( mojo, "includeProjectDependencies", Boolean.TRUE );
+        setVariableValueToObject( mojo, "killAfter", (long) -1 );
+        setVariableValueToObject( mojo, "cleanupDaemonThreads", Boolean.TRUE );
+        setVariableValueToObject( mojo, "classpathScope", "compile" );
+
+        assertNotNull( mojo );
+        assertNotNull( project );
+
+        // trap System.out
+        PrintStream out = System.out;
+        StringOutputStream stringOutputStream = new StringOutputStream();
+        System.setOut( new PrintStream( stringOutputStream ) );
+        // ensure we don't log unnecessary stuff which would interfere with assessing success of tests
+        mojo.setLog( new DefaultLog( new ConsoleLogger( Logger.LEVEL_DEBUG, "exec:java" ) ) );
+
+        try
+        {
+            mojo.execute();
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            // see testUncooperativeThread() for explaination
+            Thread.sleep( 300 ); // time seems about right
+            System.setOut( out );
+        }
+
+        return stringOutputStream.toString();
+    }
+
 
     private void setUpProject( File pomFile, AbstractMojo mojo )
         throws Exception
diff --git a/src/test/projects/project15/pom.xml b/src/test/projects/project15/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c421706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/projects/project15/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+<project>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <groupId>org.cb.maven.plugins.exec</groupId>
+  <artifactId>project15</artifactId>
+  <version>0.1</version>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+  <name>Maven Exec Plugin</name>
+  <description>Test that one can force adding the test-classpath for the java mojo</description>
+
+  <inceptionYear>2005</inceptionYear>
+  <licenses>
+    <license>
+      <name>Apache License 2</name>
+      <url>http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt</url>
+      <distribution>repo</distribution>
+    </license>
+  </licenses>
+
+  <developers>
+    <developer>
+      <name>Jerome Lacoste</name>
+      <id>jerome</id>
+      <email>jerome@coffeebreaks.org</email>
+      <organization>CoffeeBreaks</organization>
+      <organizationUrl>http://www.coffeebreaks.org</organizationUrl>
+      <roles>
+        <role>Java Developer</role>
+      </roles>
+      <timezone>+1</timezone>
+    </developer>
+  </developers>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
+      <version>1.1</version>
+    </dependency>      
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0.4</version>
+    </dependency>  
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>junit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+      <version>3.8.1</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+
+  <build>
+    <!-- for manual tests. Can't be automated in the unit tests as the plugin's not installed. What about integration tests? -->
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+        <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+           <execution>
+              <phase>test</phase>
+              <goals>
+                 <goal>java</goal>
+              </goals>
+           </execution>
+        </executions>
+        <configuration>
+          <includeProjectDependencies>true</includeProjectDependencies>
+          <classpathDependencyExcludes>
+          	<classpathDependencyExclude>commons-logging:commons-logging</classpathDependencyExclude>
+          </classpathDependencyExcludes>
+          <mainClass>org.codehaus.mojo.exec.DummyMain</mainClass>
+          <commandlineArgs>-X</commandlineArgs>
+          <arguments>
+            <argument>-X</argument>
+          </arguments>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+    <!--extensions>
+      <extension>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
+        <artifactId>wagon-ssh-external</artifactId>
+        <version>1.0-alpha-5-SNAPSHOT</version>
+      </extension>
+    </extensions-->
+  </build>
+
+</project>