How do I call java.lang.System.setProperties

[mattlangston]

I can't figure out how to set a system property from /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml. I tried the following (taken from the example at http://www.springframework.org/docs/...ctoryBean.html), but I get a java.lang.NullPointerException:

	<bean id="setKerberosProperties" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
		<property name="targetClass"><value>java.lang.System</value></property>
		<property name="targetMethod"><value>setProperties</value></property>
		<property name="arguments">
			<list>
				<props>
					<prop key="java.security.krb5.realm">xx.xx.com</prop>
					<prop key="java.security.krb5.kdc">yy.yy.com</prop>
				</props>
			</list>
		</property>
	</bean>

The interesting thing is that the java.lang.NullPointerException doesn't come from a Spring stack trace, it is comming from Tomcat:

java.io.IOException: java.lang.NullPointerException at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostDeployer.install(StandardHostDeployer.java:283)null
...

If I remove the "setKerberosProperties" bean stanza from /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml, the web application deploys fine (but doesn't work since I need to define those two system properties).

What is the "Spring Way" to set system properties from one's /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml?

I need to set these system properties in oreder to get Acegi (and CAS) to use our Kerberos servers for authentication.

Warmest regards, Matt

[rrsIPOV]

Take a look at org.springframework.util.Log4jConfigurer it is called by the Log4jWebConfigurer, and seems to be just a static wrapper around a System.setProperty() call so that it can be triggered from a Spring bean. I am not aware of any generic solution for this in Spring; but you could write a custom class that on init (or statically) sets the sytem properties.

[robh]

Matt,

The easiest way to set these system properties is to either create a simple wrapper like Log4JConfigurer, or just set them when starting tomcat. You need to set a value for the JAVA_OPTS env variable that contains the system property calls.

Rob