dm Server 1.0.1 refuses to start on Windows 2000

[ringods]

Hello,

I have a SpringSource dm Server 1.0.0 test installation successfully running on a Windows 2000 SP4 desktop with JDK 1.5.0_06.

C:\Apps\springsource-dm-server-1.0.0.RELEASE

I just tried to install SpringSource dm Server 1.0.1 alongside it, but without success. I extracted the ZIP, updated the SERVER_HOME environment variable, opened new Command Prompt windows and from the directory below, I launched bin\startup.bat

C:\Apps\springsource-dm-server-1.0.1.RELEASE

The output I got was "The input line is too long". I moved the installation folder to the root and renamed it to C:\dm, updated the SERVER_HOME variable, opened new Command Prompt windows again, but the error remains.

Anyone else with this problem? Does anyone know how to resolve this?

Ringo

[Andy Wilkinson]

You're hitting Windows 2000's DOS command-length limit of 2047 characters. In 1.0.0 we were quite close to this limit and, unfortunately, 1.0.1 has exceeded it. One of the main reasons is that 1.0.1 has added some new JARs to the lib directory and the startup script automatically adds every JAR in this directory to the classpath that it passes to java on startup. Interestingly the actual names of the JARs are not important, it's purely their presence in the lib directory that causes the startup script to find them.

Our main Windows platforms are Windows XP/Windows 2003 and later where the command-length limit is increased to 8191 characters. Unfortunately I can't offer any formal solution to the problem other than upgrading the version of Windows that you're using to one with the increased command-length limit.

[ringods]

A Windows upgrade is not possible. Like in many large corporations, the workstations are maintained by the IS department and many of these departments who installed Windows 2000 skipped XP and waited/are waiting for Vista to become stable. The IS department of the company I am working for now is preparing a Vista rollout, but this can still take some months.

As a freelance consultant, I worked for 3 customers that took this upgrade path. With still so much Windows 2000 installations in place, I would like SpringSource to reconsider and keep Windows 2000 on the list of officially supported Windows versions for at least until the end of 2009.

Tnx,

Ringo

[Joris Kuipers]

Maybe the engineering team could take a look at how this is handled in Ant: Ant has a dedicated Launcher class that takes care of things like setting the classpath to use when starting. By doing this in Java instead of a batch script and setting the java.class.path system property, the OS command line length limitation does not apply. I think this should work for the dm Server as well, and it wouldn't take a lot of effort to duplicate the functionality.

[ringods]

Or do it the Maven2 way, and use the Classworlds project to bootstrap the server.

http://classworlds.codehaus.org/

Ringo

[Joris Kuipers]

And I suspect that using something like the Tanuki Java Service Wrapper will also fix the issue, as you can specify the classpath there in your configuration using wildcards as well. Just don't use the provided startup script but create a wrapper config that mimics the settings in that script. You can then also run the dm Server as a Windows Service, which makes a lot of sense: for instance, your server keeps running when your account logs off and it's easy to run the server under its own account.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Maybe the engineering team could take a look at how this is handled in Ant: Ant has a dedicated Launcher class that takes care of things like setting the classpath to use when starting. By doing this in Java instead of a batch script and setting the java.class.path system property, the OS command line length limitation does not apply. I think this should work for the dm Server as well, and it wouldn't take a lot of effort to duplicate the functionality.

Interesting suggestion, thanks Joris.

We have a JIRA tracking this problem: PLATFORM-208. It contains a suggestion to use a separate file for the JMX configuration, thereby reducing the length of the command.

Either way, we have a couple of options for providing an official solution for this problem, which is good news.

[Andy Wilkinson]

And I suspect that using something like the Tanuki Java Service Wrapper will also fix the issue.

Unfortunately the wrapper's now released under GPL v2 so we can't use it.

[Joris Kuipers]

Unfortunately the wrapper's now released under GPL v2 so we can't use it.

Yes, I know: this was a suggestion to the original poster, not to the dev team. I don't think it would cause any issues for someone to use this internally in combination with the dm Server, as the licenses for both products allow this.

[ringods]

Joris,

I just searched into the dm Server JIRA issues and found this:
https://issuetracker.springsource.com/browse/PLATFORM-4

The request for the Tanuki wrapper was already filed on 4 May 2008 and scheduled for 2.0 release. However, I just commented that this would help Windows 2000 users.

Ringo