Why does the `maven-checkstyle-plugin` in the root pom use an execution? As a consequence running `mvn checkstyle:checkstyle-aggregate` on the command line doesn't use this configuration... I think the source of the configuration has been the instructions on the plugin's web site https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-checkstyle-plugin/usage.html, see "Checking for Violations as Part of the Build" OK if this is intentional then the switch to google_checks.xml should be easy. I'll submit a pull request. Ok @kaiwinter 
Checkstyle should use google_checks.xml
At the moment maven-checkstyle-plugin in main pom.xml has been configured to use custom rules defined in checkstyle.xml. However there shouldn't be many modifications compared to the builtin google_checks.xml and it would be beneficial to start using this so that own rules wouldn't have to be maintained.
checkstyle.xml pom.xml
pom.xml
diff --git a/checkstyle.xml b/checkstyle.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index d66281f178c6..000000000000
--- a/checkstyle.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,197 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<!--
-
-    The MIT License
-    Copyright © 2014-2019 Ilkka Seppälä
-
-    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
-    of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
-    in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
-    to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
-    copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
-    furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
-
-    The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
-    all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
-
-    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
-    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
-    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
-    AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
-    LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
-    OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
-    THE SOFTWARE.
-
--->
-<!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC
-        "-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Check Configuration 1.3//EN"
-        "http://www.puppycrawl.com/dtds/configuration_1_3.dtd">
-
-<!--
-
-    Source = https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/tree/master/src/main/resources
-
-    Checkstyle configurartion that checks the Google coding conventions from:
-
-    -  Google Java Style
-       https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn-history/r130/trunk/javaguide.html
-
-    Checkstyle is very configurable. Be sure to read the documentation at
-    http://checkstyle.sf.net (or in your downloaded distribution).
-
-    Most Checks are configurable, be sure to consult the documentation.
-
-    To completely disable a check, just comment it out or delete it from the file.
-
-    Authors: Max Vetrenko, Ruslan Diachenko, Roman Ivanov.
-
- -->
-
-<module name="Checker">
-    <property name="charset" value="UTF-8"/>
-
-	<property name="fileExtensions" value="java, xml, properties"/>
-
-    <property name="severity" value="error"/>
-
-    <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
-    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_whitespace.html -->
-    <module name="FileTabCharacter">
-        <property name="eachLine" value="true"/>
-    </module>
-
-    <module name="TreeWalker">
-        <module name="OuterTypeFilename"/>
-        <module name="IllegalTokenText">
-            <property name="tokens" value="STRING_LITERAL, CHAR_LITERAL"/>
-            <property name="format"
-                      value="\\u00(08|09|0(a|A)|0(c|C)|0(d|D)|22|27|5(C|c))|\\(0(10|11|12|14|15|42|47)|134)"/>
-            <property name="message" value="Avoid using corresponding octal or Unicode escape."/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="AvoidEscapedUnicodeCharacters">
-            <property name="allowEscapesForControlCharacters" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowByTailComment" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowNonPrintableEscapes" value="true"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="LineLength">
-            <property name="max" value="120"/>
-            <property name="ignorePattern" value="^package.*|^import.*|a href|href|http://|https://|ftp://"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="OneTopLevelClass"/>
-        <module name="NoLineWrap"/>
-        <module name="EmptyBlock">
-            <property name="option" value="TEXT"/>
-            <property name="tokens"
-                      value="LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_CATCH, LITERAL_FINALLY, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE, LITERAL_SWITCH"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="NeedBraces"/>
-        <module name="LeftCurly"/>
-        <module name="RightCurly"/>
-        <module name="RightCurly">
-            <property name="option" value="alone"/>
-            <property name="tokens"
-                      value="CLASS_DEF, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_WHILE, LITERAL_DO, STATIC_INIT, INSTANCE_INIT"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="WhitespaceAround">
-            <property name="allowEmptyConstructors" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowEmptyMethods" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowEmptyTypes" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowEmptyLoops" value="true"/>
-            <message key="ws.notFollowed"
-                     value="WhitespaceAround: ''{0}'' is not followed by whitespace."/>
-            <message key="ws.notPreceded"
-                     value="WhitespaceAround: ''{0}'' is not preceded with whitespace."/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="OneStatementPerLine"/>
-        <module name="MultipleVariableDeclarations"/>
-        <module name="ArrayTypeStyle"/>
-        <module name="MissingSwitchDefault"/>
-        <module name="FallThrough"/>
-        <module name="UpperEll"/>
-        <module name="ModifierOrder"/>
-        <module name="SeparatorWrap">
-            <property name="tokens" value="DOT"/>
-            <property name="option" value="nl"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="SeparatorWrap">
-            <property name="tokens" value="COMMA"/>
-            <property name="option" value="EOL"/>
-        </module>
-
-        <!-- Checks for Naming Conventions.                  -->
-        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_naming.html -->
-        <module name="ConstantName"/>
-        <module name="LocalFinalVariableName"/>
-        <module name="LocalVariableName"/>
-        <module name="MemberName"/>
-        <module name="MethodName"/>
-        <module name="PackageName"/>
-        <module name="ParameterName"/>
-        <module name="StaticVariableName"/>
-        <module name="TypeName"/>
-
-        <module name="NoFinalizer"/>
-        <module name="GenericWhitespace">
-            <message key="ws.followed"
-                     value="GenericWhitespace ''{0}'' is followed by whitespace."/>
-            <message key="ws.preceded"
-                     value="GenericWhitespace ''{0}'' is preceded with whitespace."/>
-            <message key="ws.illegalFollow"
-                     value="GenericWhitespace ''{0}'' should followed by whitespace."/>
-            <message key="ws.notPreceded"
-                     value="GenericWhitespace ''{0}'' is not preceded with whitespace."/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="Indentation">
-            <property name="basicOffset" value="2"/>
-            <property name="braceAdjustment" value="0"/>
-            <property name="caseIndent" value="2"/>
-            <property name="throwsIndent" value="4"/>
-            <property name="lineWrappingIndentation" value="4"/>
-            <property name="arrayInitIndent" value="2"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="AbbreviationAsWordInName">
-            <property name="ignoreFinal" value="false"/>
-            <property name="allowedAbbreviationLength" value="1"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="OverloadMethodsDeclarationOrder"/>
-        <module name="MethodParamPad"/>
-        <module name="OperatorWrap">
-            <property name="option" value="NL"/>
-            <property name="tokens"
-                      value="BAND, BOR, BSR, BXOR, DIV, EQUAL, GE, GT, LAND, LE, LITERAL_INSTANCEOF, LOR, LT, MINUS, MOD, NOT_EQUAL, PLUS, QUESTION, SL, SR, STAR "/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="AnnotationLocation">
-            <property name="tokens" value="CLASS_DEF, INTERFACE_DEF, ENUM_DEF, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="AnnotationLocation">
-            <property name="tokens" value="VARIABLE_DEF"/>
-            <property name="allowSamelineMultipleAnnotations" value="true"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="NonEmptyAtclauseDescription"/>
-        <module name="JavadocTagContinuationIndentation"/>
-        <module name="AtclauseOrder">
-            <property name="tagOrder" value="@param, @return, @throws, @deprecated"/>
-            <property name="target" value="CLASS_DEF, INTERFACE_DEF, ENUM_DEF, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF, VARIABLE_DEF"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="JavadocMethod">
-            <property name="scope" value="public"/>
-            <property name="allowMissingParamTags" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowMissingThrowsTags" value="true"/>
-            <property name="allowMissingReturnTag" value="true"/>
-            <property name="minLineCount" value="2"/>
-            <property name="allowedAnnotations" value="Override, Test, Before, After, Parameters, Given, When, BeforeClass, AfterClass, Parameterized, ParameterizedTest, BeforeAll, BeforeEach"/>
-            <property name="allowThrowsTagsForSubclasses" value="true"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="JavadocType">
-            <property name="scope" value="public"/>
-            <property name="allowUnknownTags" value="true"/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="MethodName">
-            <property name="format" value="^[a-z][a-z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$"/>
-            <message key="name.invalidPattern"
-                     value="Method name ''{0}'' must match pattern ''{1}''."/>
-        </module>
-        <module name="SingleLineJavadoc"/>
-    </module>
-
-</module>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 22dedc14a59e..0ef4890ca065 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -395,11 +395,10 @@
                         </goals>
                         <phase>validate</phase>
                         <configuration>
-                            <configLocation>checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+                            <configLocation>google_checks.xml</configLocation>
                             <suppressionsLocation>checkstyle-suppressions.xml</suppressionsLocation>
                             <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
-                            <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
-                            <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
+                            <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>
                             <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
