[ARTEMIS-82] start script limitations

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Fix Version/s: 1.0.0

Environment

UNIX

• Assignee: Martyn Taylor
• Reporter: Daniel Pocock
• Created: 20/Feb/15 08:40
• Updated: 04/Jun/15 00:15
• Resolved: 04/Jun/15 00:15

Description

This issue concerns the start script:
./distribution/activemq/src/main/resources/bin/activemq

There are various issues with JAVA_ARGS at the bottom:

a) memory parameters are hard-coded in the script and can't be overridden without modifying the script

b) data.dir is hardcoded in the script and can't be overridden without modifying the script

Problem (a) was also present in HornetQ while problem (b) was not there.

With HornetQ 2.3, it was possible to override the data.dir and also add other properties or JMXetric to the JVM command line by setting the CLUSTER_PROPS variable in a local wrapper script. However, setting heap parameters in CLUSTER_PROPS was ineffective because the HornetQ run.sh would then set them to other values later on the command line.

JBoss / Wildfly seems to do a better job of splitting the logic and configuration, they have a script called bin/standalone.sh that contains the logic and a separate file, bin/standalone.conf that can be customized with environment variables. I think this would be a good model for ActiveMQ 6 to follow. Is there already any discussion about refactoring the script?

This is important for various reasons:

• people deploying the broker in production environments don't like to modify the scripts supplied by a vendor, they usually prefer to have a configuration file of their own
• when upgrading, it is an extra hassle to merge changes into the scripts if they have been modified locally
• some people may want to run multiple instances using the same installation directory, same scripts and just using different data and log directories

Issue Links

• relates to: AMQ-5378 refactoring and simple testsuite for unix init script