Webapp Runner

Webapp runner is designed to allow you to launch an exploded or compressed war that is on your filesystem into a tomcat container with a simple java -jar command. It supports the following version of Tomcat:

• Tomcat 7: tomcat7 branch
• Tomcat 8: master branch

runwar

The runwar branch is a fork of the Tomcat 8 branch packaged and deployable using npm. It is intended to be used as a command-line tool for running war files.

Installation

npm install -g runwar

Usage

Simple Example - Running war in embedded Tomcat on port 8080.

runwar myProject.war

Example Opening in Browser -

runwar myProject.war --open-in-browser

Example Starting on Random open port

runwar myProject.war --port=0 --open-in-browser

This is just a thin wrapper around webapp-runner.jar so all of the same command-line parameters are applicable.

Usage

Clone and Build

git clone [email protected]:jsimone/webapp-runner.git
mvn package

Execute

java -jar target/webapp-runner.jar path/to/my/project

or

java -jar target/webapp-runner.jar myProject.war

Help

java -jar target/webapp-runner.jar --help

Prints out all arguments accepted

Using with Maven in your project

You can use the Maven dependency plugin to download webapp-runner as part of your build. This will eliminate the need for any external dependencies other than those specified in your build to run your application.

pom.xml

Add the following to your pom.xml:

<build>
...
  <plugins>
      <plugin>
          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
          <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.3</version>
          <executions>
              <execution>
                  <phase>package</phase>
                  <goals><goal>copy</goal></goals>
                  <configuration>
                      <artifactItems>
                          <artifactItem>
                              <groupId>com.github.jsimone</groupId>
                              <artifactId>webapp-runner</artifactId>
                              <version>8.0.33.0</version>
                              <destFileName>webapp-runner.jar</destFileName>
                          </artifactItem>
                      </artifactItems>
                  </configuration>
              </execution>
          </executions>
      </plugin>
  </plugins>
...
</build>

launching

Now when you run maven package webapp runner will be downloaded for you. You can then launch your application with:

 $ java -jar target/dependency/webapp-runner.jar target/<appname>.war

Store your sessions in memcache

In versions 7.0.29.1 and newer support for a session manager that stores sessions in memcache is built in.

To use it add --session-store memcache to your startup command:

$ java -jar target/dependency/webapp-runner.jar --session-store memcache target/<appname>.war

Then make sure that three environment variables are available for configuration: MEMCACHE_SERVERS, MEMCACHE_USERNAME, MEMCACHE_PASSWORD

Store your sessions in redis

In versions 7.0.29.1 and newer support for a session manager that stores sessions in redis is built in.

To use it add --session-store redis to your startup command:

$ java -jar target/dependency/webapp-runner.jar --session-store redis target/<appname>.war

Then make sure that Redis environment variable is available for configuration: REDIS_URL

Using Tomcat behind a reverse proxy server

If you are using webapp-runner behind a proxy server, you can set the proxy base url within tomcat:

$ java -jar target/dependency/webapp-runner.jar --proxy-base-url http://example.com  target/<appname>.war

If you pass an HTTPS base url, e.g. https://example.com, secure flag will be automatically added to session cookies. This indicates to the browser that cookies should only be sent over a secure protocol.

Running your application in Eclipse

Since your application will just be a standard webapp you can still use WTP and the traditional Tomcat integration points to run your application within Eclipse. However the containerless nature of webapp runner allows you to run from within Eclipse in a simpler way.

Start by importing your project into Eclipse. It is best to import it as an existing Maven project using the m2eclipse plugin.

Make your application dependant on webapp runner

Add the following dependency to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.jsimone</groupId>
  <artifactId>webapp-runner</artifactId>
  <version>8.0.30.1</version>
  <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

This will cause Eclipse to include webapp-runner on the classpath of your project so that it can be used for launching. It won't affect the final artifact built for your application.

Create a launch configuration

1. Right-click on your project and choose 'Debug As -> Debug Configurations...'
2. From the 'Debug Configuration' window create a new 'Java Application' launch configuration by double-clicking on 'Java Application' in the left hand list or right-clicking on it and selecting 'New'
3. Give your launch configuration a sensible name. Then enter the name of your project in the 'Project' box
4. Enter 'webapp.runner.launch.Main' in the 'Main Class' box
5. Click on the 'Arguments' tab and enter './src/main/webapp' in the 'Program Arguments' box
6. Click 'Apply' and then 'Run'

Your application should start and you should see the log output in the Eclipse console. Since you have a debugger attached to your application you'll now see changes to your code get automatically loaded without restarting and can set breakpoints.

You can stop the application from the red square in the console pane or from the debug perspective. It can be restarted by right-clicking on the project and choosing your new launch configuration from the 'Debug As' menu or from the debug menu in the Eclipse toolbar (the icon with the little bug).

Maven Central

Note: webapp runner is now available in Maven Central. The version scheme has also chanaged to match the version of Tomcat that it relies on. The format is <tomcat version>.<minor webapp runner version>. Versions 0.0.1 to 0.0.7 are still available at http://jsimone.github.com/webapp-runner/repository.

Options

$ java -jar webapp-runner.jar --help
The specified path "src/main/webapp" does not exist.
Usage: <main class> [options]
  Options:
    --basic-auth-pw
       Password to be used with basic auth. Defaults to BASIC_AUTH_PW env
       variable.
    --basic-auth-user
       Username to be used with basic auth. Defaults to BASIC_AUTH_USER env
       variable.
    --bind-on-init
       Controls when the socket used by the connector is bound. By default it is
       bound when the connector is initiated and unbound when the connector is
       destroyed., default value: true
       Default: true
    --compressable-mime-types
       Comma delimited list of mime types that will be compressed when using
       GZIP compression.
       Default: text/html,text/xml,text/plain,text/css,application/json,application/xml,text/javascript,application/javascript
    --context-xml
       The path to the context xml to use.
    --enable-basic-auth
       Secure the app with basic auth. Use with --basic-auth-user and
       --basic-auth-pw or --tomcat-users-location
       Default: false
    --enable-client-auth
       Specify -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore and -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword in
       JAVA_OPTS
       Default: false
    --enable-compression
       Enable GZIP compression on responses
       Default: false
    --enable-naming
       Enables JNDI naming
       Default: false
    --enable-ssl
       Specify -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore and -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword
       in JAVA_OPTS. Note: should not be used if a reverse proxy is terminating SSL
       for you (such as on Heroku)
       Default: false
    --expand-war-file
       Expand the war file and set it as source
       Default: true
    --expanded-dir-name
       The name of the directory the WAR file will be expanded into.
       Default: expanded
    --help

       Default: false
    --max-threads
       Set the maximum number of worker threads
       Default: 0
    --path
       The context path
       Default: <empty string>
    --port
       The port that the server will accept http requests on.
       Default: 8080
    --proxy-base-url
       Set proxy URL if tomcat is running behind reverse proxy
       Default: <empty string>
    --scanBootstrapClassPath
       Set jar scanner scan bootstrap classpath.
       Default: false
    --session-store
       Session store to use (valid options are 'memcache' or 'redis')
    --session-store-ignore-pattern
       Request pattern to not track sessions for. Valid only with memcache
       session store. (default is '.*\.(png|gif|jpg|css|js)$'
       Default: .*\.(png|gif|jpg|css|js)$
    --session-store-locking-mode
       Session locking mode for use with memcache session store. (default is
       all)
       Default: all
    --session-store-operation-timeout
       Operation timeout for the memcache session store. (default is 5000ms)
       Default: 5000
    --session-timeout
       The number of minutes of inactivity before a user's session is timed out.
    --shutdown-override
       Overrides the default behavior and casues Tomcat to ignore lifecycle
       failure events rather than shutting down when they occur.
       Default: false
    --temp-directory
       Define the temp directory, default value: ./target/tomcat.PORT
    --tomcat-users-location
       Location of the tomcat-users.xml file. (relative to the location of the
       webapp-runner jar file)
    --uri-encoding
       Set the URI encoding to be used for the Connector.
    --use-body-encoding-for-uri
       Set if the entity body encoding should be used for the URI.
       Default: false
    -A
       Allows setting HTTP connector attributes. For example: -Acompression=on
       Syntax: -Akey=value
       Default: {}

See the Tomcat documentation for a complete list of HTTP connector attributes.

Development

To run the entire suite of integration tests, use the following command:

$ mvn clean install -Pintegration-test

To run an individual integration test, use a command like this:

$ mvn clean install -Pintegration-test -Dinvoker.test=memcache-test

License

Copyright (c) 2012, John Simone All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

Neither the name of John Simone nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.