Java Webapp installation
 

I've been asked to package apache-solr [1] in Fedora. This is a java
library and webapp posing as a frontend to lucene for searching.

Packaging java jars is not a problem, but there are more problems with
webapp part. I made it into subpackage apache-solr-webapp. Ant build
creates war file (basically a zip with metadata and dependencies
bundled). I expand this war file and replace dependencies with
symlinks to %{_javadir}. I then place content of this directory inside
/usr/share/java/webapps/apache-solr/. This makes it possible to use
webapp in container (tomcat/jetty) while enabling us to update
dependencies independently.

I was thinking about adding default configuration for tomcat inside
yet another subpackage. But this would be just one simple xml file
inside /etc/tomcat6/Catalina/localhost/. Plus solr needs additional
configuration:
* creating of SOLR_HOME directory and placing it somewhere, presumably
/var/lib/solr). I have example solr home dir in %doc, but it is generic
and configuration is not really usable in that state for anything
other than serve as a commented example.

All in all seems like too much of a hassle for little gain. Someone
who is installing webapp should probably be able to deploy it (it's
point and click with manager webapp, or one simple 3-line long
xml). Plus I'd have to add another subpackage for jetty I guess...

My approach is similar to what we discussed on Java SIG meeting in December
and what was proposed in debian packaging draft[2]. We don't have a
tool to make deployments of webapps from /usr/share/java/webapps into
proper container directories yet, so this burden will stay with users
(for now).

I'd like to get more input on my approach and see if anyone sees a
problem with this. Note that there is no guideline for Java webapps as
of now so keep it light :-)


[1] http://wiki.apache.org/solr/
[2] http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep7/

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Java Webapp installation
 

I've been asked to package apache-solr [1] in Fedora. This is a java
library and webapp posing as a frontend to lucene for searching.

Packaging java jars is not a problem, but there are more problems with
webapp part. I made it into subpackage apache-solr-webapp. Ant build
creates war file (basically a zip with metadata and dependencies
bundled). I expand this war file and replace dependencies with
symlinks to %{_javadir}. I then place content of this directory inside
/usr/share/java/webapps/apache-solr/. This makes it possible to use
webapp in container (tomcat/jetty) while enabling us to update
dependencies independently.

I was thinking about adding default configuration for tomcat inside
yet another subpackage. But this would be just one simple xml file
inside /etc/tomcat6/Catalina/localhost/. Plus solr needs additional
configuration:
* creating of SOLR_HOME directory and placing it somewhere, presumably
/var/lib/solr). I have example solr home dir in %doc, but it is generic
and configuration is not really usable in that state for anything
other than serve as a commented example.

All in all seems like too much of a hassle for little gain. Someone
who is installing webapp should probably be able to deploy it (it's
point and click with manager webapp, or one simple 3-line long
xml). Plus I'd have to add another subpackage for jetty I guess...

My approach is similar to what we discussed on Java SIG meeting in December
and what was proposed in debian packaging draft[2]. We don't have a
tool to make deployments of webapps from /usr/share/java/webapps into
proper container directories yet, so this burden will stay with users
(for now).

I'd like to get more input on my approach and see if anyone sees a
problem with this. Note that there is no guideline for Java webapps as
of now so keep it light :-)


[1] http://wiki.apache.org/solr/
[2] http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep7/

--
Stanislav Ochotnicky <sochotnicky@redhat.com>
Software Engineer - Base Operating Systems Brno

PGP: 7B087241
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Java Webapp installation
 

Whatever you do please do not break per instance tomcat6 installations.
By this I'm referring to these instructions located at the head of
/etc/sysconfig/tomcat6

There seems to be a general misunderstanding of the per instance tomcat
mechanism which leads to packaging and configuration changes that break it.

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Java Webapp installation
 

Le Mer 9 mars 2011 15:44, Stanislav Ochotnicky a écrit :
> I've been asked to package apache-solr [1] in Fedora. This is a java
> library and webapp posing as a frontend to lucene for searching.
>
> Packaging java jars is not a problem, but there are more problems with
> webapp part. I made it into subpackage apache-solr-webapp. Ant build
> creates war file (basically a zip with metadata and dependencies
> bundled). I expand this war file and replace dependencies with
> symlinks to %{_javadir}. I then place content of this directory inside
> /usr/share/java/webapps/apache-solr/. This makes it possible to use
> webapp in container (tomcat/jetty) while enabling us to update
> dependencies independently.

This is nothing new and actually why jpackage-utils contains a
build-jar-directory command that populates a directory with symlinks (and a
rebuild-jar-directory that refreshes them if necessary)

/usr/share/java/webapps/ is likely to conflict with this command logic BTW.
/usr/share/java/ was supposed to contain only jars on jpackaged systems
originally.

> I was thinking about adding default configuration for tomcat inside
> yet another subpackage. But this would be just one simple xml file
> inside /etc/tomcat6/Catalina/localhost/. Plus solr needs additional
> configuration:
> * creating of SOLR_HOME directory and placing it somewhere, presumably
> /var/lib/solr). I have example solr home dir in %doc, but it is generic
> and configuration is not really usable in that state for anything
> other than serve as a commented example.
>
> All in all seems like too much of a hassle for little gain.

It's not little gain. If you find it too complex to do manually, the usual
solution is to write rpm macros or shell helpers to help deploy this kind of
webapp.

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Java Webapp installation
 

Excerpts from Nicolas Mailhot's message of Thu Mar 10 09:55:47 +0100 2011:
>
> Le Mer 9 mars 2011 15:44, Stanislav Ochotnicky a écrit :
> > I've been asked to package apache-solr [1] in Fedora. This is a java
> > library and webapp posing as a frontend to lucene for searching.
> >
> > Packaging java jars is not a problem, but there are more problems with
> > webapp part. I made it into subpackage apache-solr-webapp. Ant build
> > creates war file (basically a zip with metadata and dependencies
> > bundled). I expand this war file and replace dependencies with
> > symlinks to %{_javadir}. I then place content of this directory inside
> > /usr/share/java/webapps/apache-solr/. This makes it possible to use
> > webapp in container (tomcat/jetty) while enabling us to update
> > dependencies independently.
>
> This is nothing new and actually why jpackage-utils contains a
> build-jar-directory command that populates a directory with symlinks (and a
> rebuild-jar-directory that refreshes them if necessary)

Yes. I of course know about build-jar-repository (typo on your
part?). Question wasn't so much about that, but general approach since
AFAIK there was no previous Java Webapp in Fedora (therefore noone
dealt directly with war files).

>
> /usr/share/java/webapps/ is likely to conflict with this command logic BTW.
> /usr/share/java/ was supposed to contain only jars on jpackaged systems
> originally.

This is I guess more problematic aspect I haven't really though of. I
don't really think it would cause practical issues, but I agree it's
better to get it right(tm). So how about /usr/share/java-webapps ? Or
to have nice ordering with php(?) webapps /usr/share/webapps-java.

> > I was thinking about adding default configuration for tomcat inside
> > yet another subpackage. But this would be just one simple xml file
> > inside /etc/tomcat6/Catalina/localhost/. Plus solr needs additional
> > configuration:
> > * creating of SOLR_HOME directory and placing it somewhere, presumably
> > /var/lib/solr). I have example solr home dir in %doc, but it is generic
> > and configuration is not really usable in that state for anything
> > other than serve as a commented example.
> >
> > All in all seems like too much of a hassle for little gain.
>
> It's not little gain. If you find it too complex to do manually, the usual
> solution is to write rpm macros or shell helpers to help deploy this kind of
> webapp.

I meant little as at least in this case it really requires manual
modifications of SOLR_HOME and I have a feeling people would try to
use default configuration. Even if you use upstream war file you still
have to do these things, because for example you have to change
property of solr.home for given tomcat instance/context or it just
won't work.

Problem with putting SOLR_HOME into var is that there are
configuration files that would fit more in the /etc. Then it's not so
intuitive to understand how to run two instances, because deploying it
twice will not work without having separate SOLR_HOME and configs. Oh
well..I guess I'll just concentrate on making one instance work
more-less out-of-the box and let them figure out how I did it...

It's really not a technical issue, more of a "what's the most normal
way" issue :-)

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Java Webapp installation
 

Le Jeu 10 mars 2011 10:17, Stanislav Ochotnicky a écrit :
> Excerpts from Nicolas Mailhot's message of Thu Mar 10 09:55:47 +0100 2011:
>>
>> Le Mer 9 mars 2011 15:44, Stanislav Ochotnicky a écrit :
>> > I've been asked to package apache-solr [1] in Fedora. This is a java
>> > library and webapp posing as a frontend to lucene for searching.
>> >
>> > Packaging java jars is not a problem, but there are more problems with
>> > webapp part. I made it into subpackage apache-solr-webapp. Ant build
>> > creates war file (basically a zip with metadata and dependencies
>> > bundled). I expand this war file and replace dependencies with
>> > symlinks to %{_javadir}. I then place content of this directory inside
>> > /usr/share/java/webapps/apache-solr/. This makes it possible to use
>> > webapp in container (tomcat/jetty) while enabling us to update
>> > dependencies independently.
>>
>> This is nothing new and actually why jpackage-utils contains a
>> build-jar-directory command that populates a directory with symlinks (and a
>> rebuild-jar-directory that refreshes them if necessary)
>
> Yes. I of course know about build-jar-repository (typo on your
> part?).

Yes, sorry about that, long time I've not used it :(

> Question wasn't so much about that, but general approach since
> AFAIK there was no previous Java Webapp in Fedora (therefore noone
> dealt directly with war files).
>
>>
>> /usr/share/java/webapps/ is likely to conflict with this command logic BTW.
>> /usr/share/java/ was supposed to contain only jars on jpackaged systems
>> originally.
>
> This is I guess more problematic aspect I haven't really though of. I
> don't really think it would cause practical issues, but I agree it's
> better to get it right(tm).

The only practical issue is if someone ever tries to packages a webapp.jar as
the build-jar-repository will do lookups on directories too (to allow
replacing transparently foo.jar with a foo subdir containing a set of jar
files)

> So how about /usr/share/java-webapps ? Or
> to have nice ordering with php(?) webapps /usr/share/webapps-java.

Anyone will do, being consistent with php would of course be nice to users.

> It's really not a technical issue, more of a "what's the most normal
> way" issue :-)

"normal" way with Java deployment? That's an oxymoron. The only Java
deployment conventions so have have been written by distro people. I'd suggest
to look at the php webapps included in the distro, derive something similar
for Java, and write a formal Fedora packaging guideline so others have an
answer to your question. Everything but the location of the tomcat/jetty/jboss
config files is likely to be identical no matter what the webapp language is

Regards,

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