Building and running applications - IntelliJ IDEA in Action - page 146

Figure 5.1
Project-specific compiler settings are
controlled through this window.
select the Recursively option if you want all subdirectories under a folder to be
excluded as well. Be advised, however, that if some of the sources you've excluded
are also dependencies of source code being compiled, they will be pulled in and
built by the compiler as needed—regardless of their exclusion status. If files fail to
compile for but aren't critical to the project, you may add them to the exclusion
list until they're fixed, allowing the build to complete the compilation of the rest
of the project. The same is true if your project includes source files that you don't
want compiled into your output folder.
Selecting a Java compiler
The area below the excluded paths list in the Compiler dialog lets you configure
the settings for the compilers supported by IDEA . Currently, IDEA supports the
Javac compiler (the compiler included with the JDK as configured for your
project) as well as Jikes, the popular open source Java compiler. You must select a
compiler for use in your project. Regardless of your choice of compiler, the class
files will be nearly identical and compatible with the Java VM .