gradle: copy war to tomcat directory

Question

I\'m trying to write a Gradle task which copies generated war files to my local tomcat instance:

This isn\'t working and I\'m not sure how to debug it:

Answer 1

Please, make sure the war archive is getting bundled before deploylocal is executed. Maybe, you could define a dependency:

task deploylocal(dependsOn: build) << {

NB There is a convention property in java plugin named libsDir. It allows you to reference build/libs directory in better way:

 task deploylocal(dependsOn: build) << {
    println "Copy from ${libsDir.getPath()} into ${tomcatHome}/webapps"
    copy{
      from libsDir
      into "${tomcatHome}/webapps"
      include '*.war'
    }
  }

Answer 2

First, attempting to debug. Check the order of task execution; see if it it being run after the war file is produced. Also whether or not it says UP-TO-DATE.

The problem could be the lack of any dependencies between the this task and the output you want to copy.

Try replacing this general task with an instance of a Copy task, and make it dependent on the war file you're trying to copy.

Something like this:

task deployLocal(type: Copy) { 
    dependsOn configurations.archives.buildArtifacts
    from configurations.archives.allArtifacts*.file 
    into("$tomcatHome/webapps") 
}

Answer 3

If you already have the war plugin you can also just add

war.doLast {
    copy {
        from war.archiveFile
        into "${tomcatHome}/webapps"
    }
}

Then you will always automatically deploy each time you build the war file.

Answer 4

Actually later a replaced this functionality with cargo plugin for gradle and runn the deploy by

gradle cargoRunLocal

Answer 5

You could give the Gradle Cargo plugin a shot. It lets you deploy a WAR file to a local as well as a remote Tomcat.

Answer 6

You could of-course use the tomcat plugin. My setup prevents me from using/modify the out of the box war & tomcat option.

I personally like the following flavor (copied from my build.gradle).

tomcat_home='tomcat_location'
tomcat_bin=tomcat_home + '/bin'
tomcat_start=tomcat_bin + '/startup.sh'
tomcat_stop=tomcat_bin + '/shutdown.sh'
tomcat_webapps = tomcat_home + '/webapps'

task tom << {
    if (project.hasProperty('start')) {
        startTom()
    } else if (project.hasProperty('stop')) {
        stopTom()
    } else if (project.hasProperty('deployNstart')) {
        stopTom()
        webappsCopy()
        startTom()
    } else {
        throw new RuntimeException('unrecognized option')
    }
}

def stopTom() {
    executeCmd(tomcat_stop)
}

def startTom() {
    executeCmd(tomcat_start)
}


def executeCmd(command) {
    proc = command.execute()
    proc.waitFor()
}

def webappsCopy() {
    copy {
        from 'war file location' // could be exploded or war itself
        into tomcat_webapps
    }
}

-- you call the various options you include in the 'tom' task from the command line --

$ gradle tom -Pstart
$ gradle tom -Pstop
$ gradle tom -PdeployNstart

this could potentially grow further, as I add more commands/options related to Tomcat. Few pointers:

1. move the location etc. to gradle.properties so that it could work in different environments.
2. poll your tomcat server port to fine tune options and msgs.
3. move to plugin/task code that could be reused.

this limited version works for me right now :-)