diff --git a/src/main/docs/ant-task.html b/src/main/docs/ant-task.html
index ed0c3e5a..9a7c6295 100644
--- a/src/main/docs/ant-task.html
+++ b/src/main/docs/ant-task.html
@@ -113,7 +113,15 @@ <h2>Parameters</h2>
   <td>failOnUnresolvableSignatures</td>
   <td><code>boolean</code></td>
   <td><code>true</code></td>
-  <td>Fail the build if a signature is not resolving. If this parameter is set to <code>false</code>, then such signatures are silently ignored.</td>
+  <td>Fail the build if a signature is not resolving. If this parameter is set to
+   to false, then such signatures are ignored.<br>
+   When disabling this setting, the task still prints a warning to inform the user about
+   broken signatures. This cannot be disabled. There is a second setting
+   <code>ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses</code> that can be used to silently ignore
+   signatures that refer to methods or field in classes that are not on classpath,
+   e.g. This is useful in multi-module builds where a common set of signatures is used,
+   that are not part of every sub-modules dependencies.<br>
+  <strong>Deprecated.</strong> Use <code>ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses</code> instead.</td>
 </tr>
 
 <tr>
@@ -137,6 +145,17 @@ <h2>Parameters</h2>
   <td>Ignore empty fileset/resource collection and print a warning instead.</td>
 </tr>
 
+<tr>
+  <td>ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses</td>
+  <td><code>boolean</code></td>
+  <td><code>false</code></td>
+  <td>If a class is missing while parsing signatures files, all methods and fields from this
+   class are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module
+   projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
+   This settings prints no warning at all, so verify the signatures at least once with
+   full dependencies.</td>
+</tr>
+
 <tr>
   <td>suppressAnnotation</td>
   <td><code>class name</code></td>
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Checker.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Checker.java
index 1a928757..3f236224 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Checker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Checker.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ public static enum Option {
     FAIL_ON_MISSING_CLASSES,
     FAIL_ON_VIOLATION,
     FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES,
+    IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES,
     DISABLE_CLASSLOADING_CACHE
   }
 
@@ -341,6 +342,11 @@ public boolean hasNoSignatures() {
     return forbiddenSignatures.hasNoSignatures();
   }
   
+  /** Returns if no signatures files / inline signatures were parsed */
+  public boolean noSignaturesFilesParsed() {
+    return forbiddenSignatures.noSignaturesFilesParsed();
+  }
+  
   /** Parses and adds a class from the given stream to the list of classes to check. Closes the stream when parsed (on Exception, too)! Does not log anything. */
   public void addClassToCheck(final InputStream in, String name) throws IOException {
     final ClassReader reader;
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Constants.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Constants.java
index 5c3a9818..582eacd6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Constants.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Constants.java
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ public interface Constants {
   
   final Pattern JDK_SIG_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(jdk\\-.*?\\-)(\\d+)(\\.\\d+)?(\\.\\d+)*");
   
+  final String DEPRECATED_WARN_FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES =
+      "The setting 'failOnUnresolvableSignatures' was deprecated and will be removed in next version. Use 'ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses' instead.";
+  
   final Type DEPRECATED_TYPE = Type.getType(Deprecated.class);
   final String DEPRECATED_DESCRIPTOR = DEPRECATED_TYPE.getDescriptor();
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Signatures.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Signatures.java
index 34c5900a..5c5e7e2d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Signatures.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/Signatures.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ public final class Signatures implements Constants {
   private static final String BUNDLED_PREFIX = "@includeBundled ";
   private static final String DEFAULT_MESSAGE_PREFIX = "@defaultMessage ";
   private static final String IGNORE_UNRESOLVABLE_LINE = "@ignoreUnresolvable";
+  private static final String IGNORE_MISSING_CLASSES_LINE = "@ignoreMissingClasses";
 
   private static enum UnresolvableReporting {
     FAIL(true) {
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ private UnresolvableReporting(boolean reportClassNotFound) {
   
   private final RelatedClassLookup lookup;
   private final Logger logger;
-  private final boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
+  private final boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures, ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
 
   /** Key is used to lookup forbidden signature in following formats. Keys are generated by the corresponding
    * {@link #getKey(String)} (classes), {@link #getKey(String, Method)} (methods),
@@ -91,14 +92,18 @@ private UnresolvableReporting(boolean reportClassNotFound) {
   
   /** if enabled, the bundled signature to enable heuristics for detection of non-portable runtime calls is used */
   private boolean forbidNonPortableRuntime = false;
+  
+  /** number of files that were interpreted as signatures file. If 0, no (bundled) signatures files were added at all */
+  private int numberOfFiles = 0;
 
   public Signatures(Checker checker) {
-    this(checker, checker.logger, checker.options.contains(Option.FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES));
+    this(checker, checker.logger, checker.options.contains(Option.IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES), checker.options.contains(Option.FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES));
   }
   
-  public Signatures(RelatedClassLookup lookup, Logger logger, boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
+  public Signatures(RelatedClassLookup lookup, Logger logger, boolean ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses, boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
     this.lookup = lookup;
     this.logger = logger;
+    this.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses = ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
     this.failOnUnresolvableSignatures = failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
   }
   
@@ -115,7 +120,8 @@ static String getKey(String internalClassName, Method method) {
   }
   
   /** Adds the method signature to the list of disallowed methods. The Signature is checked against the given ClassLoader. */
-  private void addSignature(final String line, final String defaultMessage, final UnresolvableReporting report, final Set<String> missingClasses) throws ParseException,IOException {
+  private void addSignature(final String line, final String defaultMessage, final UnresolvableReporting report,
+      final boolean localIgnoreMissingClasses, final Set<String> missingClasses) throws ParseException,IOException {
     final String clazz, field, signature;
     String message = null;
     final Method method;
@@ -171,6 +177,9 @@ private void addSignature(final String line, final String defaultMessage, final
       try {
         c = lookup.getClassFromClassLoader(clazz);
       } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
+        if (this.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses || localIgnoreMissingClasses) {
+          return;
+        }
         if (report.reportClassNotFound) {
           report.parseFailed(logger, String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "Class '%s' not found on classpath", cnfe.getMessage()), signature);
         } else {
@@ -235,6 +244,7 @@ private void addBundledSignatures(String name, String jdkTargetVersion, boolean
     }
     if (BS_JDK_NONPORTABLE.equals(name)) {
       if (logging) logger.info("Reading bundled API signatures: " + name);
+      numberOfFiles++;
       forbidNonPortableRuntime = true;
       return;
     }
@@ -254,14 +264,16 @@ private void addBundledSignatures(String name, String jdkTargetVersion, boolean
     parseSignaturesStream(in, true, missingClasses);
   }
   
-  private void parseSignaturesStream(InputStream in, boolean allowBundled, Set<String> missingClasses) throws IOException,ParseException {
-    parseSignaturesFile(new InputStreamReader(in, StandardCharsets.UTF_8), allowBundled, missingClasses);
+  private void parseSignaturesStream(InputStream in, boolean isBundled, Set<String> missingClasses) throws IOException,ParseException {
+    parseSignaturesFile(new InputStreamReader(in, StandardCharsets.UTF_8), isBundled, missingClasses);
   }
 
   private void parseSignaturesFile(Reader reader, boolean isBundled, Set<String> missingClasses) throws IOException,ParseException {
+    numberOfFiles++;
     try (final BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(reader)) {
       String line, defaultMessage = null;
       UnresolvableReporting reporter = failOnUnresolvableSignatures ? UnresolvableReporting.FAIL : UnresolvableReporting.WARNING;
+      boolean localIgnoreMissingClasses = false;
       while ((line = r.readLine()) != null) {
         line = line.trim();
         if (line.length() == 0 || line.startsWith("#"))
@@ -274,12 +286,20 @@ private void parseSignaturesFile(Reader reader, boolean isBundled, Set<String> m
             defaultMessage = line.substring(DEFAULT_MESSAGE_PREFIX.length()).trim();
             if (defaultMessage.length() == 0) defaultMessage = null;
           } else if (line.equals(IGNORE_UNRESOLVABLE_LINE)) {
-            reporter = isBundled ? UnresolvableReporting.SILENT : UnresolvableReporting.WARNING;
+            if (isBundled) {
+              reporter = UnresolvableReporting.SILENT;
+            } else {
+              logger.warn(String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "'%s' inside signatures files is deprecated, prefer using '%s' to ignore signatures where the class is missing.",
+                  IGNORE_UNRESOLVABLE_LINE, IGNORE_MISSING_CLASSES_LINE));
+              reporter = UnresolvableReporting.WARNING;
+            }
+          } else if (line.equals(IGNORE_MISSING_CLASSES_LINE)) {
+            localIgnoreMissingClasses = true;
           } else {
             throw new ParseException("Invalid line in signature file: " + line);
           }
         } else {
-          addSignature(line, defaultMessage, reporter, missingClasses);
+          addSignature(line, defaultMessage, reporter, localIgnoreMissingClasses, missingClasses);
         }
       }
     }
@@ -315,6 +335,11 @@ public boolean hasNoSignatures() {
         (forbidNonPortableRuntime ? 1 : 0);
   }
   
+  /** Returns if no signatures files / inline signatures were parsed */
+  public boolean noSignaturesFilesParsed() {
+    return numberOfFiles == 0;
+  }
+  
   /** Returns if bundled signature to enable heuristics for detection of non-portable runtime calls is used */
   public boolean isNonPortableRuntimeForbidden() {
     return this.forbidNonPortableRuntime;
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/ant/AntTask.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/ant/AntTask.java
index 9a884be3..471ea63e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/ant/AntTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/ant/AntTask.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ public class AntTask extends Task implements Constants {
   private boolean restrictClassFilename = true;
   private boolean failOnMissingClasses = true;
   private boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures = true;
+  private boolean ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses = false;
   private boolean failOnViolation = true;
   private boolean ignoreEmptyFileset = false;
   private String targetVersion = null;
@@ -108,7 +109,12 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       final EnumSet<Checker.Option> options = EnumSet.noneOf(Checker.Option.class);
       if (failOnMissingClasses) options.add(FAIL_ON_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (failOnViolation) options.add(FAIL_ON_VIOLATION);
-      if (failOnUnresolvableSignatures) options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      if (failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
+        options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      } else {
+        log.warn(DEPRECATED_WARN_FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      }
+      if (ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses) options.add(IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (disableClassloadingCache) options.add(DISABLE_CLASSLOADING_CACHE);
       final Checker checker = new Checker(log, loader, options);
       
@@ -169,7 +175,12 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       }
         
       if (checker.hasNoSignatures()) {
-        throw new BuildException("No API signatures found; use signaturesFile=, <signatures*/>, <bundledSignatures/> or inner text to define those!");
+        if (checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed()) {
+          throw new BuildException("No signatures were added to task; use signaturesFile=, <signatures*/>, <bundledSignatures/> or inner text to define those!");
+        } else {
+          log.info("Skipping execution because no API signatures are available.");
+          return;
+        }
       }
 
       log.info("Loading classes to check...");
@@ -325,13 +336,34 @@ public void setFailOnMissingClasses(boolean failOnMissingClasses) {
 
   /**
    * Fail the build if a signature is not resolving. If this parameter is set to
-   * to false, then such signatures are silently ignored.
-   * Defaults to {@code true}. 
+   * to false, then such signatures are ignored. Defaults to {@code true}.
+   * <p>When disabling this setting, the task still prints a warning to inform the user about
+   * broken signatures. This cannot be disabled. There is a second setting
+   * {@link #setIgnoreMissingSignaturesClasses()} that can be used to silently ignore
+   * signatures that refer to methods or field in classes that are not on classpath,
+   * e.g. This is useful in multi-module builds where a common set of signatures is used,
+   * that are not part of every sub-modules dependencies.
+   * @see #setIgnoreMissingSignaturesClasses()
+   * @deprecated Use {@link #setIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses(boolean)} instead.
    */
+  @Deprecated
   public void setFailOnUnresolvableSignatures(boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
     this.failOnUnresolvableSignatures = failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * If a class is missing while parsing signatures files, all methods and fields from this
+   * class are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module
+   * projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
+   * This settings prints no warning at all, so verify the signatures at least once with
+   * full dependencies.
+   * Defaults to {@code false}.
+   * @since 3.0
+   */
+  public void setIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses(boolean ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses) {
+    this.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses = ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
+  }
+  
   /** Automatically restrict resource names included to files with a name ending in '.class'.
    * This makes filesets easier, as the includes="**&#47;*.class" is not needed.
    * Defaults to {@code true}.
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/cli/CliMain.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/cli/CliMain.java
index b10ca5d3..f4b0f0c3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/cli/CliMain.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/cli/CliMain.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 public final class CliMain implements Constants {
 
   private final Option classpathOpt, dirOpt, includesOpt, excludesOpt, signaturesfileOpt, bundledsignaturesOpt, suppressannotationsOpt,
-    allowmissingclassesOpt, allowunresolvablesignaturesOpt, versionOpt, helpOpt;
+    allowmissingclassesOpt, ignoresignaturesofmissingclassesOpt, allowunresolvablesignaturesOpt, versionOpt, helpOpt;
   private final CommandLine cmd;
   
   private static final Logger LOG = StdIoLogger.INSTANCE;
@@ -129,8 +129,12 @@ public CliMain(String... args) throws ExitException {
         .desc("don't fail if a referenced class is missing on classpath")
         .longOpt("allowmissingclasses")
         .build());
+    options.addOption(ignoresignaturesofmissingclassesOpt = Option.builder()
+        .desc("if a class is missing while parsing signatures files, all methods and fields from this class are silently ignored")
+        .longOpt("ignoresignaturesofmissingclasses")
+        .build());
     options.addOption(allowunresolvablesignaturesOpt = Option.builder()
-        .desc("don't fail if a signature is not resolving")
+        .desc("DEPRECATED: don't fail if a signature is not resolving")
         .longOpt("allowunresolvablesignatures")
         .build());
 
@@ -212,7 +216,12 @@ public void run() throws ExitException {
     try (final URLClassLoader loader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(urls, ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader())) {
       final EnumSet<Checker.Option> options = EnumSet.of(FAIL_ON_VIOLATION);
       if (!cmd.hasOption(allowmissingclassesOpt.getLongOpt())) options.add(FAIL_ON_MISSING_CLASSES);
-      if (!cmd.hasOption(allowunresolvablesignaturesOpt.getLongOpt())) options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      if (cmd.hasOption(allowunresolvablesignaturesOpt.getLongOpt())) {
+        LOG.warn(DEPRECATED_WARN_FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      } else {
+        options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      }
+      if (cmd.hasOption(ignoresignaturesofmissingclassesOpt.getLongOpt())) options.add(IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES);
       final Checker checker = new Checker(LOG, loader, options);
       
       if (!checker.isSupportedJDK) {
@@ -267,10 +276,15 @@ public void run() throws ExitException {
       }
 
       if (checker.hasNoSignatures()) {
-        throw new ExitException(EXIT_ERR_CMDLINE, String.format(Locale.ENGLISH,
-          "No API signatures found; use parameters '--%s' and/or '--%s' to specify those!",
-          bundledsignaturesOpt.getLongOpt(), signaturesfileOpt.getLongOpt()
-        ));
+        if (checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed()) {
+          throw new ExitException(EXIT_ERR_CMDLINE, String.format(Locale.ENGLISH,
+            "No API signatures given as parameters; use '--%s' and/or '--%s' to specify those!",
+            bundledsignaturesOpt.getLongOpt(), signaturesfileOpt.getLongOpt()
+          ));
+      } else {
+          LOG.info("Skipping execution because no API signatures are available.");
+          return;
+        }
       }
 
       try {
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApis.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApis.java
index 84ed7fb8..1ff82933 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApis.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApis.java
@@ -258,20 +258,47 @@ public void setFailOnMissingClasses(boolean failOnMissingClasses) {
 
   /**
    * Fail the build if a signature is not resolving. If this parameter is set to
-   * to false, then such signatures are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module Maven
-   * projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
-   * Defaults to {@code true}.
+   * to false, then such signatures are ignored. Defaults to {@code true}.
+   * <p>When disabling this setting, the task still prints a warning to inform the user about
+   * broken signatures. This cannot be disabled. There is a second setting
+   * {@link #getIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses()} that can be used to silently ignore
+   * signatures that refer to methods or field in classes that are not on classpath,
+   * e.g. This is useful in multi-module Gradle builds where a common set of signatures is used,
+   * that are not part of every sub-modules dependencies.
+   * @see #getIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses()
+   * @deprecated Use {@link #getIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses()} instead.
    */
   @Input
+  @Deprecated
   public boolean getFailOnUnresolvableSignatures() {
     return data.failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
   }
 
   /** @see #getFailOnUnresolvableSignatures */
+  @Deprecated
   public void setFailOnUnresolvableSignatures(boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
     data.failOnUnresolvableSignatures = failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * If a class is missing while parsing signatures files, all methods and fields from this
+   * class are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module Gradle
+   * projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
+   * This settings prints no warning at all, so verify the signatures at least once with
+   * full dependencies.
+   * Defaults to {@code false}.
+   * @since 3.0
+   */
+  @Input
+  public boolean getIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses() {
+    return data.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
+  }
+
+  /** @see #getFailOnUnresolvableSignatures */
+  public void setIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses(boolean ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses) {
+    data.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses = ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
+  }
+
   /**
    * {@inheritDoc}
    * <p>
@@ -492,7 +519,12 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       final EnumSet<Checker.Option> options = EnumSet.noneOf(Checker.Option.class);
       if (getFailOnMissingClasses()) options.add(FAIL_ON_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (!getIgnoreFailures()) options.add(FAIL_ON_VIOLATION);
-      if (getFailOnUnresolvableSignatures()) options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      if (getFailOnUnresolvableSignatures()) {
+        options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      } else {
+        log.warn(DEPRECATED_WARN_FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      }
+      if (getIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses()) options.add(IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (getDisableClassloadingCache()) options.add(DISABLE_CLASSLOADING_CACHE);
       final Checker checker = new Checker(log, loader, options);
       
@@ -552,8 +584,8 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       }
 
       if (checker.hasNoSignatures()) {
-        if (options.contains(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES)) {
-          throw new InvalidUserDataException("No API signatures found; use properties 'signatures', 'bundledSignatures', 'signaturesURLs', and/or 'signaturesFiles' to define those!");
+        if (checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed()) {
+          throw new InvalidUserDataException("No signatures were added to task; use properties 'signatures', 'bundledSignatures', 'signaturesURLs', and/or 'signaturesFiles' to define those!");
         } else {
           log.info("Skipping execution because no API signatures are available.");
           return;
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApisExtension.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApisExtension.java
index 6fe4b9f7..775fbe86 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApisExtension.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/gradle/CheckForbiddenApisExtension.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ public CheckForbiddenApisExtension(Project project) {
     failOnMissingClasses = true,
     failOnUnresolvableSignatures = true,
     ignoreFailures = false,
+    ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses = false,
     disableClassloadingCache = ForbiddenApisPlugin.DEFAULT_DISABLE_CLASSLOADING_CACHE;
   
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/maven/AbstractCheckMojo.java b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/maven/AbstractCheckMojo.java
index 611dd742..a6cb8abc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/maven/AbstractCheckMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/maven/AbstractCheckMojo.java
@@ -130,12 +130,33 @@ public abstract class AbstractCheckMojo extends AbstractMojo implements Constant
   
   /**
    * Fail the build if a signature is not resolving. If this parameter is set to
-   * to false, then such signatures are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module Maven
-   * projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
+   * to false, then such signatures are ignored. Defaults to {@code true}.
+   * <p>When disabling this setting, the task still prints a warning to inform the user about
+   * broken signatures. This cannot be disabled. There is a second setting
+   * {@link #ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses} that can be used to silently ignore
+   * signatures that refer to methods or field in classes that are not on classpath,
+   * e.g. This is useful in multi-module Maven builds where a common set of signatures is used,
+   * that are not part of every sub-modules dependencies.
+   * @see #ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses)
+   * @deprecated The setting 'failOnUnresolvableSignatures' was deprecated and will be removed in next version. Use 'ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses' instead.
    * @since 1.4
    */
+  @Deprecated
   @Parameter(required = false, defaultValue = "true")
   private boolean failOnUnresolvableSignatures;
+  
+  /**
+   * If a class is missing while parsing signatures files, all methods and fields from this
+   * class are silently ignored. This is useful in multi-module Maven
+   * projects where only some modules have the dependency to which the signature file(s) apply.
+   * This settings prints no warning at all, so verify the signatures at least once with
+   * full dependencies.
+   * Defaults to {@code false}.
+   * @since 3.0
+   */
+  @Parameter(required = false, defaultValue = "false")
+  private boolean ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses;
+
 
   /**
    * Fail the build if violations have been found. Defaults to {@code true}.
@@ -311,7 +332,12 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       final EnumSet<Checker.Option> options = EnumSet.noneOf(Checker.Option.class);
       if (failOnMissingClasses) options.add(FAIL_ON_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (failOnViolation) options.add(FAIL_ON_VIOLATION);
-      if (failOnUnresolvableSignatures) options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      if (failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
+        options.add(FAIL_ON_UNRESOLVABLE_SIGNATURES);
+      } else {
+        // no warning needed, Maven does this automatically based on @deprecated annotation
+      }
+      if (ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses) options.add(IGNORE_SIGNATURES_OF_MISSING_CLASSES);
       if (disableClassloadingCache) options.add(DISABLE_CLASSLOADING_CACHE);
       final Checker checker = new Checker(log, loader, options);
       
@@ -411,8 +437,8 @@ public void info(String msg) {
       }
 
       if (checker.hasNoSignatures()) {
-        if (failOnUnresolvableSignatures) {
-          throw new MojoExecutionException("No API signatures found; use parameters 'signatures', 'bundledSignatures', 'signaturesFiles',  and/or 'signaturesArtifacts' to define those!");
+        if (checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed()) {
+          throw new MojoExecutionException("No signatures were added to mojo; use parameters 'signatures', 'bundledSignatures', 'signaturesFiles',  and/or 'signaturesArtifacts' to define those!");
         } else {
           log.info("Skipping execution because no API signatures are available.");
           return;
diff --git a/src/test/antunit/TestInlineSignatures.xml b/src/test/antunit/TestInlineSignatures.xml
index 84a34b29..cd8bc703 100644
--- a/src/test/antunit/TestInlineSignatures.xml
+++ b/src/test/antunit/TestInlineSignatures.xml
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@
       foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
       java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod() @ should be ignored
       java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField @ should be ignored
-      java.awt.Color @ Color is disallowed, thats not bad, because ANT has no colors... (this was just added to don't fail because of missing signatures)
     </forbiddenapis>
+    <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="'@ignoreUnresolvable' inside signatures files is deprecated, prefer using '@ignoreMissingClasses' to ignore signatures where the class is missing."/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="Some signatures were ignored because the following classes were not found on classpath:"/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="  foo.bar.ForbiddenApis"/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="Method not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod() [signature ignored]"/> 
@@ -109,12 +109,65 @@
       foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
       java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod() @ should be ignored
       java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField @ should be ignored
-      java.awt.Color @ Color is disallowed, thats not bad, because ANT has no colors... (this was just added to don't fail because of missing signatures)
     </forbiddenapis>
+    <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="The setting 'failOnUnresolvableSignatures' was deprecated and will be removed in next version. Use 'ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses' instead."/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="Some signatures were ignored because the following classes were not found on classpath:"/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="  foo.bar.ForbiddenApis"/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="Method not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod() [signature ignored]"/> 
     <au:assertLogContains level="warning" text="Field not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField [signature ignored]"/> 
   </target>
   
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses">
+    <forbiddenapis classpathref="path.all">
+      <fileset refid="main.classes"/>
+      @ignoreMissingClasses
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#field @ should be ignored
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis @ should be ignored
+    </forbiddenapis>
+    <au:assertLogContains level="info" text="Skipping execution because no API signatures are available."/> 
+  </target>
+  
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClassesAttribute">
+    <forbiddenapis classpathref="path.all" ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses="true">
+      <fileset refid="main.classes"/>
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#field @ should be ignored
+      foo.bar.ForbiddenApis @ should be ignored
+    </forbiddenapis>
+    <au:assertLogContains level="info" text="Skipping execution because no API signatures are available."/> 
+  </target>
+  
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClassesAttributeButFailOnMissingMethod">
+    <au:expectfailure expectedMessage="Method not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod()">
+      <forbiddenapis classpathref="path.all" ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses="true">
+        <fileset refid="main.classes"/>
+        foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
+        java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod() @ should not be ignored
+        java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField @ should not be ignored
+      </forbiddenapis>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+  </target>
+  
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClassesInSeparateResources">
+    <au:expectfailure expectedMessage="Parsing signatures failed: Class 'foo.bar.ForbiddenApis2' not found on classpath while parsing signature: foo.bar.ForbiddenApis2#testMethod()">
+      <forbiddenapis classpathref="path.all">
+        <fileset refid="main.classes"/>
+        <signatures>
+          <string>
+            @ignoreMissingClasses
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod() @ should be ignored
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#field @ should be ignored
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis @ should be ignored
+          </string>
+          <string>
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis2#testMethod() @ should fail
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis2#field @ should fail
+            foo.bar.ForbiddenApis2 @ should fail
+          </string>
+        </signatures>
+      </forbiddenapis>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+  </target>
+  
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/antunit/TestMavenMojo.xml b/src/test/antunit/TestMavenMojo.xml
index f572bbf4..096e1147 100644
--- a/src/test/antunit/TestMavenMojo.xml
+++ b/src/test/antunit/TestMavenMojo.xml
@@ -96,6 +96,30 @@
     <au:assertLogContains text="Field not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField [signature ignored]"/> 
   </target>
   
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses2">
+    <artifact:mvn pom="${antunit.fake-pom}" mavenVersion="${maven.version}" failonerror="true" fork="${maven.fork}">
+      <arg value="-s"/><arg file="${maven.local.settings}"/>
+      <arg value="${groupId}:${artifactId}:${version}:check"/>
+      <syspropertyset refid="injected-properties"/>
+      <sysproperty key="antunit.signatures" value="foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod()"/>
+      <sysproperty key="antunit.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses" value="true"/>
+    </artifact:mvn>
+    <au:assertLogContains text=" 0 error(s)."/> 
+  </target>
+  
+  <target name="testIgnoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses2DoesNotPassMissingMethod">
+    <au:expectfailure>
+      <artifact:mvn pom="${antunit.fake-pom}" mavenVersion="${maven.version}" failonerror="true" fork="${maven.fork}">
+        <arg value="-s"/><arg file="${maven.local.settings}"/>
+        <arg value="${groupId}:${artifactId}:${version}:check"/>
+        <syspropertyset refid="injected-properties"/>
+        <sysproperty key="antunit.signatures" value="foo.bar.ForbiddenApis#testMethod()&#10;java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod()&#10;java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarField"/>
+        <sysproperty key="antunit.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses" value="true"/>
+      </artifact:mvn>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+    <au:assertLogContains text="Parsing signatures failed: Method not found while parsing signature: java.lang.String#forbiddenFoobarMethod()"/> 
+  </target>
+  
   <target name="testMissingTargetVersion">
     <au:expectfailure>
       <artifact:mvn pom="${antunit.fake-pom}" mavenVersion="${maven.version}" failonerror="true" fork="${maven.fork}">
diff --git a/src/test/antunit/pom-generator.xsl b/src/test/antunit/pom-generator.xsl
index f1ee380a..8ced350f 100644
--- a/src/test/antunit/pom-generator.xsl
+++ b/src/test/antunit/pom-generator.xsl
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
             <version>${version}</version>
             <configuration>
               <failOnUnresolvableSignatures>${antunit.failOnUnresolvableSignatures}</failOnUnresolvableSignatures>
+              <ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses>${antunit.ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses}</ignoreSignaturesOfMissingClasses>
               <failOnViolation>${antunit.failOnViolation}</failOnViolation>
               <bundledSignatures>
                 <bundledSignature>jdk-unsafe</bundledSignature>
diff --git a/src/test/antunit/pom-sigArtifacts.xml b/src/test/antunit/pom-sigArtifacts.xml
index c87ba533..53db1c34 100644
--- a/src/test/antunit/pom-sigArtifacts.xml
+++ b/src/test/antunit/pom-sigArtifacts.xml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
               <artifactId>${artifactId}</artifactId>
               <version>${version}</version>
               <type>jar</type>
+              <!-- TODO: This currently prints a warning about @ignoreUnresolvable -->
               <path>de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/signatures/jdk-deprecated-${jdk.version}.txt</path>
             </signaturesArtifact>
           </signaturesArtifacts>
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/CheckerSetupTest.java b/src/test/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/CheckerSetupTest.java
index 7b031ca5..1b0dbca2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/CheckerSetupTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/thetaphi/forbiddenapis/CheckerSetupTest.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ public void testEmpty() {
     assertEquals(Collections.emptyMap(), forbiddenSignatures.signatures);
     assertEquals(Collections.emptySet(), forbiddenSignatures.classPatterns);
     assertTrue(checker.hasNoSignatures());
+    assertTrue(checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed());
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -53,6 +54,8 @@ public void testClassSignature() throws Exception {
     checker.parseSignaturesString("java.lang.Object @ Foobar");
     assertEquals(Collections.singletonMap(Signatures.getKey("java/lang/Object"), "java.lang.Object [Foobar]"), forbiddenSignatures.signatures);
     assertEquals(Collections.emptySet(), forbiddenSignatures.classPatterns);
+    assertFalse(checker.hasNoSignatures());
+    assertFalse(checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed());
   }
   
   @Test
@@ -61,6 +64,8 @@ public void testClassPatternSignature() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(Collections.emptyMap(), forbiddenSignatures.signatures);
     assertEquals(Collections.singleton(new ClassPatternRule("java.lang.**", "Foobar")),
         forbiddenSignatures.classPatterns);
+    assertFalse(checker.hasNoSignatures());
+    assertFalse(checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed());
   }
   
   @Test
@@ -69,6 +74,8 @@ public void testFieldSignature() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(Collections.singletonMap(Signatures.getKey("java/lang/String", "CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER"), "java.lang.String#CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER [Foobar]"),
         forbiddenSignatures.signatures);
     assertEquals(Collections.emptySet(), forbiddenSignatures.classPatterns);
+    assertFalse(checker.hasNoSignatures());
+    assertFalse(checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed());
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -77,6 +84,8 @@ public void testMethodSignature() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(Collections.singletonMap(Signatures.getKey("java/lang/Object", new Method("toString", "()Ljava/lang/String;")), "java.lang.Object#toString() [Foobar]"),
         forbiddenSignatures.signatures);
     assertEquals(Collections.emptySet(), forbiddenSignatures.classPatterns);
+    assertFalse(checker.hasNoSignatures());
+    assertFalse(checker.noSignaturesFilesParsed());
   }
   
   @Test