Using the following snippet (in nbproject/project.xml):

        <java-data xmlns="http://www.netbeans.org/ns/freeform-project-java/2">
            <compilation-unit>
                <package-root>${project.dir}/src/main/java</package-root>
                <source-level>1.5</source-level>
            </compilation-unit>
            <compilation-unit>
                <package-root>${project.dir}/src/test/java</package-root>
                <unit-tests/>
                <!--classpath
mode="compile">src/main/java;build/lib/test/log4j-1.2.15.jar;build/lib/test/testng-5.6-jdk15.jar;build/lib/test/catalina-5.5.26.jar;build/lib/test/commons-logging-1.1.1.jar;build/lib/test/catalina-optional-5.5.26.jar;build/lib/test/selenium-java-client-driver-1.0-beta-1.jar</classpath-->
		<classpath mode="compile">src/main/java;build/lib/test/'*'</classpath>
                <source-level>1.5</source-level>
            </compilation-unit>
        </java-data>

...the IDE will not be able to set up the classpath when the uncommented classpath declaration is used (<classpath
mode="compile">src/main/java;build/lib/test/'*'</classpath>)

From the command line, this works fine. Ie, if you call javac with the following argument (from one of the package
folders of the test source tree):

$ javac -cp ../../../../../../../build/lib/test/'*' *.java

...then the classpath wildcard expansion works as expected.

(Note: I have also tried without the single quotes around the asterisk (*) in nbproject/project.xml, but without luck)

This limitation is quite irritating when you retrieve dependencies with build tools such as Ivy
(http://ant.apache.org/ivy), since each time you add a new dependency jar file in the ivy.xml file, you will have to add
the path to this jar file in the NB project file as well. The common strategy with tools such as Maven/Ivy is to group
dependencies in configurations such as "compile","test","runtime" (etc), which (eg) means that all dependencies needed
for compiling the test source can be retrieved into a single directory (say, builddeps/test)

If NB could use wildcards for the classpath, you would be able to tell NB something like: "just use whatever jar files
you find in builddeps/test as the classpath for the test source, and whatever jar files you find in builddeps/compile as
the classpath for the main source". That would really make life easier for those who retreieve dependencies with
Ant+Ivy, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work right now.