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TomcatAntTasks


Difference between version 21 and version 12:

At line 1 changed 3 lines.
[I|MattRaible]'ve been told I should use Tomcat's Ant Tasks (install, list, refresh, remove) in [AppFuse] to ease deployment of the app. So I tried that today (June 24, 2003). Here's how I set it up and what I found. I hope to use this page to get a consensus on how these tasks should be used.
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1. First, I defined a tomcat.classpath for the catalina-ant.jar file. Putting in in $ANT_HOME/lib did not work - and this way seemed cleaner. So in __properties.xml__, I added:
[I|MattRaible] finally figured out how to use Tomcat's Ant Tasks (install, remove, reload, start, stop, list) in [AppFuse] to ease deployment of the app. Below is a list of of the steps I used to integrate them into my build.xml file.
1. Rather than defining each task with a <taskdef>, I created a tomcatTasks.properties file with the following contents:
At line 5 changed 5 lines.
<!-- For Tomcat Tasks -->
<path id="tomcat.classpath">
<fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/server/lib"
includes="catalina-ant.jar" />
</path>
deploy=org.apache.catalina.ant.DeployTask
install=org.apache.catalina.ant.InstallTask
list=org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask
reload=org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask
remove=org.apache.catalina.ant.RemoveTask
resources=org.apache.catalina.ant.ResourcesTask
roles=org.apache.catalina.ant.RolesTask
start=org.apache.catalina.ant.StartTask
stop=org.apache.catalina.ant.StopTask
undeploy=org.apache.catalina.ant.UndeployTask
At line 11 changed 1 line.
2. Then in __build.xml__, I define the tasks in the "define-tasks" target:
2. Then I created a tomcat.properties file with the following contents. Make sure the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml file has an entry with username/password __admin/admin__ and that they have the __manager__ role.
At line 13 changed 13 lines.
<!-- Tomcat Tasks -->
<taskdef name="install"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.InstallTask"
classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />
<taskdef name="list"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask"
classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />
<taskdef name="reload"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask"
classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />
<taskdef name="remove"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.RemoveTask"
classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />
# Properties for Tomcat Server
tomcat.server=localhost
tomcat.manager.url=http://${tomcat.server}:8080/manager
tomcat.username=admin
tomcat.password=admin
At line 27 changed 1 line.
3. Then I created targets for each one of these tasks:
3. I included a reference to tomcat.properties in my build.xml file:
At line 29 changed 8 lines.
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<!-- install, list, reload and remove are all Tomcat deployment targets. -->
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<target name="install" depends="package-web"
description="Install application to servlet container">
<install url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"
war="file://${webapp.dist}/${webapp.war}"/>
<property file="tomcat.properties"/>
}}}
4. Then I added all a single taskdef and all the targets/tasks I wanted to use to my build.xml file:
{{{
<taskdef file="${ant-contrib.dir}/tomcatTasks.properties">
<classpath>
<pathelement path="${tomcat.home}/server/lib/catalina-ant.jar"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
<target name="install" description="Install application in Tomcat"
depends="package-web">
<deploy url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"
war="file:${webapp.dist}/${webapp.war}"/>
At line 39 changed 4 lines.
<target name="list" depends="define-tasks"
description="List installed applications on servlet container">
<list url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}" />
<target name="remove" description="Remove application in Tomcat">
<undeploy url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"/>
At line 45 changed 4 lines.
<target name="refresh" depends="package-web"
description="Reload application on servlet container">
<reload url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"/>
<target name="reload" description="Reload application in Tomcat">
<reload url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"/>
At line 51 changed 4 lines.
<target name="remove" depends="define-tasks"
description="Remove application on servlet container">
<remove url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"/>
<target name="start" description="Start Tomcat application">
<start url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"/>
At line 56 removed 2 lines.
}}}
__NOTE:__ I used "refresh" as a target name since I already have a "reload" task that stops tomcat, undeploys, cleans and redeploys.
At line 59 changed 1 line.
4. My understanding is that I should be able to point the ''install'' and ''refresh'' tasks at the .war file for my app, and it'll install/reload as requested. The ''list'' and ''remove'' tasks work fine at this point.
<target name="stop" description="Stop Tomcat application">
<stop url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"/>
</target>
At line 61 changed 5 lines.
----
!!My Issues:
__Install: Doesn't work.__ I get the good ol' {{java.sql.SQLException: Cannot load JDBC driver class 'null'}}. Everything looks fine from the Ant side though:
{{{
[install] OK - Installed application at context path /appfuse
<target name="list" description="List Tomcat applications">
<list url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"/>
</target>
At line 67 removed 1 line.
If I restart Tomcat, everything starts and loads just fine.
At line 69 changed 9 lines.
__Remove: Doesn't seem to work__, but it actually does. Here's what Ant reports:
{{{
[remove] FAIL - Encountered exception java.io.IOException: java.lang.NullPointerException
}}}
If I run the same task again, I get:
{{{
[remove] FAIL - No context exists for path /appfuse
}}}
Proving that it actually did work the first time.
__NOTE: There are a few things I discovered in this process:__
At line 79 changed 5 lines.
__Reload: Doesn't work__:
{{{
[reload] FAIL - Reload not supported on WAR deployed at path /appfuse
}}}
Even though my context has ''reloadable="true"''
* If you put a ''context.xml'' file in your WAR's META-INF directory, the __deploy__ task will recognize it and use it. This is the same as defining your context in server.xml or putting an ''appname.xml'' file in $CATALINA_HOME/webapps. In Tomcat 4, this only works with the deploy task. In Tomcat 5, this will work with any war - even if you just drop it into $CATALINA_HOME/webapps.
At line 85 changed 5 lines.
----
!!My Thoughts
* The problem might be that I'm not pointing to a build/appfuse directory that contains an already intact webapp directory structure - instead I'm pointing to a ''real'' .war file. My context has __path="/appfuse"__ rather than ''path="/appfuse.war"'', so I wonder if that matters.
* Reload seems pointless to me, I still have to deploy (copy files to $CATALINA_HOME/webapp) to Tomcat, and when I do this with Ant's &lt;copy&gt; task, Tomcat reloads the app automagically.
* Using these tasks seems like a waste of time - especially since I'm just replacing something that already works for me. Please, someone prove me wrong. And not with points and counterpoints - but by checking out [AppFuse] from CVS and submitting patches. ;-)
;:''That's a very slick feature IMO. Now if there was only a way to deploy the JDBC Driver with the WAR and have it auto-deployed to $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib.''
At line 91 changed 1 line.
~ [MattRaible]
* All these tasks will overwrite your server.xml file in Tomcat 4.1.x. They do create a backup, but if you're having configuration issues after using these, revert back to your original server.xml. I've included a [minimal server.xml|server-minimal-4.1.29.xml] for Tomcat 4.1.29. Also, the war is deployed under the ''$CATALINA_HOME/work/Standalone/localhost/manager'' directory.
* In Tomcat 4.1.x, the ''reload'' target doesn't work with WARs. You have to use "ant stop start" to simulate a reload.
At line 93 changed 2 lines.
----
!!Comments
__The good news is that all of the issues that occur in Tomcat 4.1.x are gone in Tomcat 5.__
At line 96 changed 9 lines.
__Install: Doesn't work.__: Well, you need to specify the context XML file also (it's a separate deployment, so the existing one doesn't get picked up automatically). If the Context element is in server.xml, then it won't work.
__Remove: Doesn't seem to work__: I don't know about that one. Probably the fact that there a context file is causing trouble of some sort.
__Reload: Doesn't work__: You can't reload a WAR indeed (you undeploy it, and then redeploy it when it is updated; however, its content cannot change unless the WAR itself changes, that's why reloading has no meaning for a WAR). Webapp reloading is for automatic class change tracking. It doesn't prevent any manual reloading.
The behavior of the deployer and its related tasks will be more intuitive in TC 5, and more integrated with the auto deployer. the latest nightly has a lot of this stuff implemented [http://cvs.apache.org/builds/jakarta-tomcat-5/nightly/jakarta-tomcat-5-bin-20030624.tar.gz]. Note that both install and remove are now deprecated, replaced by deploy and undeploy.
~ Remy ~
* In Tomcat 5, the server.xml is __not__ overwritten. The context.xml is extracted where you would expect it ($CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/localhost), and the WAR is deployed (and expanded) to the webapps directory.
* The ''reload'' target works in Tomcat 5 - providing you don't have any non-serializeable attributes in your session.

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