in maven-plugin-testing-harness/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/api/plugin/testing/MojoExtension.java [595:601]
private static String resolveFromRootThenParent(Xpp3Dom pluginPomDom, String element) throws Exception {
return Optional.ofNullable(child(pluginPomDom, element).orElseGet(() -> child(pluginPomDom, "parent")
.flatMap(e -> child(e, element))
.orElse(null)))
.map(Xpp3Dom::getValue)
.orElseThrow(() -> new Exception("unable to determine " + element));
}