diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 15c280561fa1..0751be821470 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
     <checkstyle.conf.dir>${hive.path.to.root}/checkstyle</checkstyle.conf.dir>
 
     <!-- Test Properties -->
-    <test.extra.path></test.extra.path>
+    <test.extra.path/>
     <test.hive.hadoop.classpath>${maven.test.classpath}</test.hive.hadoop.classpath>
     <test.log4j.scheme>file://</test.log4j.scheme>
     <test.tmp.dir>${project.build.directory}/tmp</test.tmp.dir>
@@ -75,8 +75,8 @@
     <test.warehouse.scheme>pfile://</test.warehouse.scheme>
 
     <!-- To add additional exclude patterns set this property -->
-    <test.excludes.additional></test.excludes.additional>
-    <skip.spark.files></skip.spark.files>
+    <test.excludes.additional/>
+    <skip.spark.files/>
 
     <!-- Plugin and Plugin Dependency Versions -->
     <ant.contrib.version>1.0b3</ant.contrib.version>
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@
     <pig.version>0.12.0</pig.version>
     <protobuf.version>2.5.0</protobuf.version>
     <stax.version>1.0.1</stax.version>
-    <slf4j.version>1.7.5</slf4j.version>
+    <slf4j.version>1.7.36</slf4j.version>
     <ST4.version>4.0.4</ST4.version>
     <tez.version>0.5.2</tez.version>
     <super-csv.version>2.2.0</super-csv.version>
@@ -761,11 +761,11 @@
             </goals>
             <configuration>
               <target>
-                <delete dir="${test.tmp.dir}" />
-                <delete dir="${test.warehouse.dir}" />
-                <mkdir dir="${test.tmp.dir}" />
-                <mkdir dir="${test.warehouse.dir}" />
-                <mkdir dir="${test.tmp.dir}/conf" />
+                <delete dir="${test.tmp.dir}"/>
+                <delete dir="${test.warehouse.dir}"/>
+                <mkdir dir="${test.tmp.dir}"/>
+                <mkdir dir="${test.warehouse.dir}"/>
+                <mkdir dir="${test.tmp.dir}/conf"/>
                 <!-- copies hive-site.xml so it can be modified -->
                 <copy todir="${test.tmp.dir}/conf/">
                   <fileset dir="${basedir}/${hive.path.to.root}/data/conf/"/>
@@ -952,20 +952,19 @@
                 <phase>generate-sources</phase>
                 <configuration>
                   <target>
-                    <taskdef name="for" classname="net.sf.antcontrib.logic.ForTask"
-                      classpathref="maven.plugin.classpath" />
+                    <taskdef name="for" classname="net.sf.antcontrib.logic.ForTask" classpathref="maven.plugin.classpath"/>
                     <property name="thrift.args" value="-I ${thrift.home} --gen java:beans,hashcode --gen cpp --gen php --gen py --gen rb"/>
                     <property name="thrift.gen.dir" value="${basedir}/src/gen/thrift"/>
                     <delete dir="${thrift.gen.dir}"/>
                     <mkdir dir="${thrift.gen.dir}"/>
                     <for param="thrift.file">
                       <path>
-                        <fileset dir="." includes="if/*.thrift,if/test/*.thrift" />
+                        <fileset dir="." includes="if/*.thrift,if/test/*.thrift"/>
                       </path>
                       <sequential>
                         <echo message="Generating Thrift code for @{thrift.file}"/>
-                        <exec executable="${thrift.home}/bin/thrift"  failonerror="true" dir=".">
-                          <arg line="${thrift.args} -I ${basedir}/include -I ${basedir}/.. -o ${thrift.gen.dir} @{thrift.file} " />
+                        <exec executable="${thrift.home}/bin/thrift" failonerror="true" dir=".">
+                          <arg line="${thrift.args} -I ${basedir}/include -I ${basedir}/.. -o ${thrift.gen.dir} @{thrift.file} "/>
                         </exec>
                       </sequential>
                     </for>