Re: [gentoo-dev] Q's: Java 'servlet' virtual? Java IDE use flags?

[Dylan Carlson]

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Greetings Dwight,

On Sun June 15 2003 5:31 pm, D. Tuinstra wrote:
> 1) Should there be a virtual for servlet containers? At present
> there are several containers available including tomcat, jetty, and
> jboss (and that's just open source). I've only worked with tomcat,
> but some of the references I've read say that each servlet
> container has its own directory structure and its own way to
> install servlet-based webapps. When writing an ebuild for a webapp
> it would be nice to know, in a standard way, whether a container is
> available and if so, which.

Since the servlet 2.2 API spec, WAR files have a standard structure and this 
is used by all current versions of 2.2-compliant servlet containers I'm 
aware of.

Some packages build WAR files that are entirely optional to the set of 
classes that the package provides.  For this reason and others, it doesn't 
make sense (from my perspective) to have an ebuild automatically deploy a 
WAR.   In doing so, it could have potential security issues ... especially 
on a server that is already running stuff live.  

Since the installation of a WAR is typically just a matter of copying the 
file in, and maybe touching a config file or two -- WARs should be 
installed into:

/usr/share/${PN}/war/
...or
/usr/share/${PN}-${PV}/war/ for slotted apps

I would like to keep a distinct line between installing a package and 
deploying it.   If the user wants to deploy the application, it has to be a 
separate action; no different than adding a script in /etc/init.d to a 
given runlevel.

Adding support to java-config, supposing a virtual exists for servlet 
containers, is the ideal solution to installing WAR files in the long-term.  
Part of that will be some way of coupling WAR deployment and any 
corresponding config files in the same feature.   Currently java-config is 
undergoing a rewrite, so between Todd Berman and myself finishing that up, 
expect to see that sometime soon.

Either way, I don't expect to support non-WAR servlet packages as there's 
just much that can go wrong.  Those types of packages will be put in 
/usr/share/${PN}/ until they can be installed as WARs, in which case the 
user will have to install them manually (not via java-config).


> 2) Related question: what should the default container dependency be
> if none is installed? Tomcat?

We'll have to pick one for a virtual.  Tomcat is the official reference 
implementation; also considering everything else Apache produces, it makes 
overall sense for Tomcat to be the default.


> 3) Some Java tools, such as Struts Console, can be installed
> standalone or as a plugin to one or more Java IDE's. Should there
> be a USE variable for each of the IDE's, that an ebuild can consult
> to see which IDE's it should install itself into? If so, how would
> version dependency/compatability issues be handled?

That's a complicated issue.  It might make sense to make a plugin a separate 
package (which depends on the main struts package for the member classes).  
e.g., dev-util/eclipse-struts.

Alternatively, the ebuild can check for the presence of another package 
during src_compile (which is somewhat ugly but it works).  It depends on 
the circumstances.  

Either one of those two scenarios is more preferable IMO, than piling on 
more USE flags- even local ones.   Some may disagree with me, but USE flags 
should be conservative and restricted to compile-time options as much as 
possible.   

Cheers,
Dylan Carlson [absinthe@g.o]
Developer, Java Lead -- Gentoo Linux
Public Key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x708E165F
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