Re: [Exist-open] RestXQ: fatal errors in Tomcat

[Dannes W. <da...@ex...>]

Thank you all for the responses ; we have been mentioning abandoning the war file a longer time now, this is the first time that there is a bit more feedback from the community.

What we miss is a war-file 'owner', Chris it would be great if you could help us here.

There are a few "problems" with WAR files that started the war-file-or-not discussion

- finding local files in a reliable way is quite difficult
----> which makes it difficult to implement certain features in limited time
- exist-db relies on a few features e.g. a CustomProtocolHander
----> which is not possible in tomcat
- some servlet containers do not 'explode' the content of war files (e.g. they run from memory), making references to local files impossible
- some servlet containers do not allow to write data on arbitrary file locations (security managers)
- some users find it too difficult to alter the content of the war files to match local requirements
- quite a few users do not read the 'endorsed jars' instructions, causing issues as well
- for some features we sometimes need functions from a newer servlet specification (I expect more to come), which actually abandons the use in certain tomcat versions (this has never been communicated/verified)

etc...


So it is not just about maintaining the war file, there is a bit more pain involved. Since we do not define the requirements for a servlet container, we had several issues reported in the past about not working functions. This kind of support  costs more effort than I'd like.

And.... a non/partial working database makes the software look rather bad on mailinglist etc. I hope you understand this consideration.


But.... I think we can make a step forwards however by thinking of the following subjects:

- define which servlet containers we explicitly support (tomcat 5-6-7, websphere, ......)  --> prefer tomcat7 only
- limit the functionality (configuration, jars) in the war file
- ......


One question from my side: does the recently added package manager actually work in e.g. tomcat? and other features like betterform?

thnx for your constructive feedback

cheers

Dannes



On 7 Sep 2012, at 18:25 , Chris Tomlinson <chr...@gm...> wrote:

> tbrc.org uses exist-db as a war deployed in a tomcat container and it would be rather a jolt to have that capability disappear. 
> 
> While I understand that exist-db is a an open source project and relies on the user community to support and develop it, I am puzzled about why a basic modular use case of exist-db that has been there from the earliest days would be jettisoned. 
> 
> I will offer to do what I can to help ensure that exist-db continues to be usable as a war file in tomcat (and jetty), but that to some extent depends on exist-db development being carried on in such a way as to not preclude such deployment. 
>