diff --git a/ecs-logging-core/src/main/java/module-info.java b/ecs-logging-core/src/main/java/module-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..86fa6a97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ecs-logging-core/src/main/java/module-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*-
+ * #%L
+ * Java ECS logging
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 - 2020 Elastic and contributors
+ * %%
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * #L%
+ */
+module co.elastic.logging {
+
+  requires java.base;
+  exports co.elastic.logging;
+
+}
+
diff --git a/log4j2-ecs-layout/pom.xml b/log4j2-ecs-layout/pom.xml
index ea09d125..af1a1e60 100644
--- a/log4j2-ecs-layout/pom.xml
+++ b/log4j2-ecs-layout/pom.xml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
                         </goals>
                         <phase>process-classes</phase>
                         <configuration>
+                            <release>${maven.compiler.target}</release>
                             <proc>only</proc>
                             <annotationProcessors>
                                 <annotationProcessor>org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.processor.PluginProcessor
diff --git a/logback-ecs-encoder/src/main/java/module-info.java b/logback-ecs-encoder/src/main/java/module-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..466fb7a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/logback-ecs-encoder/src/main/java/module-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*-
+ * #%L
+ * Java ECS logging
+ * %%
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 - 2020 Elastic and contributors
+ * %%
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * #L%
+ */
+module co.elastic.logging.logback {
+
+  requires java.base;
+  requires org.slf4j;
+  requires co.elastic.logging;
+  requires logback.core;
+  requires logback.classic;
+
+  exports co.elastic.logging.logback;
+
+}
+
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f651fdf4..6d5b2288 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
         <parent.base.dir>${project.basedir}</parent.base.dir>
         <maven-deploy-plugin.skip>false</maven-deploy-plugin.skip>
+        <surefire.useModulePath>false</surefire.useModulePath>
     </properties>
 
     <distributionManagement>
@@ -179,6 +180,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                 <artifactId>animal-sniffer-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>1.24</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <id>signature-check</id>
@@ -196,7 +198,6 @@
                     </signature>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
-
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
@@ -206,13 +207,67 @@
             </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>3.14.0</version>
                 <configuration>
-                    <source>${maven.compiler.target}</source>
-                    <target>${maven.compiler.target}</target>
-                    <testSource>${maven.compiler.testTarget}</testSource>
-                    <testTarget>${maven.compiler.testTarget}</testTarget>
                     <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
                 </configuration>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>default-compile</id>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <release>${maven.compiler.target}</release>
+                            <excludes>
+                                <exclude>module-info.java</exclude>
+                            </excludes>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>default-testCompile</id>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <release>${maven.compiler.testTarget}</release>
+                            <excludes>
+                                <exclude>module-info.java</exclude>
+                            </excludes>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>compile-module-info</id>
+                        <phase>prepare-package</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>compile</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <release>9</release>
+                            <excludes>
+                                <exclude>co/**/*.java</exclude>
+                            </excludes>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
+            <!-- remove module-info.class - otherwise compilation of tests fails -->
+            <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>auto-clean</id>
+                        <phase>process-test-resources</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>clean</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <excludeDefaultDirectories>true</excludeDefaultDirectories>
+                            <filesets>
+                                <fileset>
+                                    <directory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</directory>
+                                    <includes>
+                                        <include>module-info.class</include>
+                                    </includes>
+                                </fileset>
+                            </filesets>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
             </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>com.coderplus.maven.plugins</groupId>