Payload 0.3 released
April 18th, 2005 by HenBrief mention of the 0.3 release of OSJava Payload.
Payload is a simple library for creating self-extracting jars. Said jars can perform search+replace as they extract and the new version can search+replace inside zip files (in addition to a bugfix for Windows usage).
It’s a critical part of the Genesis build/package/deploy system (mostly written in Perl) which we use at work to manage our Mavenized projects. A group of CVS modules are built, packaged inside a slightly customised JBoss 3.2.x container (unused parts deleted and more in the way of management scripts) and entombed into a self-extracting jar.
The administration team then execute said jar, along with a .properties file specifying the environment, on the desired machine and start things up.
The major advantage of this is that things become very predictable, a Java admin is not largely required and the developers get to manage the entire application without having access to production (so container adjustments work their way through Dev->Test->Staging->Live). Another nice touch is that the J2EE install doesn’t fill up with crap as time goes by, it’s regularly being refreshed with a clean new version.
Probably the biggest downside is that it’s too easy. A handful of lines can build and deploy 2-dozen CVS modules into 6 separate JBoss installs, and there’s less impetus for Developers or Admins to learn about the J2EE container. Still, this can also be good as our Graphics Designer has been doing regular deploys.