Junit - run set up method once

You can use the BeforeClass annotation:

@BeforeClass
public static void setUpClass() {
    //executed only once, before the first test
}

When setUp() is in a superclass of the test class (e.g. AbstractTestBase below), the accepted answer can be modified as follows:

public abstract class AbstractTestBase {
    private static Class<? extends AbstractTestBase> testClass;
    .....
    public void setUp() {
        if (this.getClass().equals(testClass)) {
            return;
        }

        // do the setup - once per concrete test class
        .....
        testClass = this.getClass();
    }
}

This should work for a single non-static setUp() method but I'm unable to produce an equivalent for tearDown() without straying into a world of complex reflection... Bounty points to anyone who can!

JUnit 5 now has a @BeforeAll annotation:

Denotes that the annotated method should be executed before all @Test methods in the current class or class hierarchy; analogous to JUnit 4’s @BeforeClass. Such methods must be static.

The lifecycle annotations of JUnit 5 seem to have finally gotten it right! You can guess which annotations available without even looking (e.g. @BeforeEach @AfterAll)

Although I agree with @assylias that using @BeforeClass is a classic solution it is not always convenient. The method annotated with @BeforeClass must be static. It is very inconvenient for some tests that need instance of test case. For example Spring based tests that use @Autowired to work with services defined in spring context.

In this case I personally use regular setUp() method annotated with @Before annotation and manage my custom static(!) boolean flag:

private static boolean setUpIsDone = false;
.....
@Before
public void setUp() {
    if (setUpIsDone) {
        return;
    }
    // do the setup
    setUpIsDone = true;
}