HOW-TO: Setup WebObjects on Linux

It now covers installation of WebObjects 5.2 as well (see revision list at the end of this how-to for changes).

This how-to is based on a German description on how to setup WebObjects under Linux by Timo Buhmann. Translation and reformatting into this HTML document was done by me with suggestions from the WebObjects mailing lists at OmniGroup and an article about Linux and WO by Jonathan Wolf Rentzsch.

I am no guru when it comes to Linux - I have used it for about two days before writing this tutorial. Luckily, there were enough people around here I could ask all kinds of questions when I got stuck. If you see strange things or clumsy stuff in this how-to, please mail me and kindly send along corrections or improvements. Maybe Apple integrates Linux support in the next release of WebObjects so you won't not need this how-to any longer. In the meantime: let's hack!


Overview:

1. before you start
2. install Apache
3. install Java2 SDK 1.4
4. install WebObjects 5.1 Deployment for Solaris
5. install WebObjects 5.1 update 3
6. compile the Apache adaptor for Linux
7. configure Apache for WebObjects
8. start Apache und WebObjects services
9. start JavaMonitor and test the installation
10. cleaning up
11. troubleshooting
12. revision list

• a Linux distribution. For our actual installation of WebObjects 5.2, we used SuSE 8.0 Professional now.
• Apache 1.3.x: http://httpd.apache.org (the new version was done with version 1.3.27)
• Java2 SDK: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html (J2SDK 1.4.1_02, standard RPM package)
  I am not sure if installing just the JRE for Linux is enough. It definitely does not work for Windows deployment, so I decided to choose the (somewhat bigger) SDK for Linux, too.
• WebObjects 5.1 or 5.2 CD for Solaris / Windows (get it at http://store.apple.com)
• a working deployment license key; for WebObjects 5.1 you can use a license key from either a WebObjects 5.0 or 5.1 installation
  IMPORTANT: For WebObjects 5.2 you need a key specifically made that version! License keys for older versions seem to work at first but later on you cannot run any applications. :-(
• WebObjects updates:
  • WebObjects 5.1 Update 3 (a compressed tarfile and a shell script) for Solaris: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75277; the complete patch list lives at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=70037
  • There is no update for WebObjects 5.2 yet, so I took the update part out for now.
• changes to the makefiles that are discussed in step 6 can be downloaded here, if you do not want to apply them yourself. Inside the zipfile there are different folders for WebObjects 5.1 and 5.2.

In your Linux installation, the following packages should installed (the letter at the beginning of each line lists the appropriate package series for a SuSE 7.1 installation, this may be different for other Linux distributions):

• a: compat (libs needed to run Java)
• ap: mc (Midnight Commander, not _really_ needed  :)
• d: gcc (compiler)
• d: gdbm-devel (libs needed to compile the Apache sources)
• d: linclude (needed by gcc)
• d: make (make command)
• n: ftp (ftp client to get files from other systems, way faster that sftp)
• n: openssh (ssh server and client tools, when you want to deploy applications later on)
• n: smbclnt (to mount shares from Windows boxes)

• n: apache (you are going to make this yourself).
• d: java (JDK 1.1.8)
• d: javarunt (Java Runtime 1.1.8)

mkdir -p /opt/install/apache

mkdir -p /opt/install/java

mkdir -p /opt/install/woupdate

[back to Overview]

cd /opt/install/apache

tar xfvz apache_1.3.27.tar.gz

cd apache_1.3.27

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache --enable-module=so --enable-module=rewrite --enable-shared=max --enable-rule=SHARED_CORE

make clean; make; make install

ln -s /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl /usr/bin/apachectl

apachectl start        

cd /opt/install/java

chmod a+x j2sdk-1_4_1_02-linux-i586-rpm.bin

./j2sdk-1_4_1_02-linux-i586-rpm.bin

rpm -i -vv j2sdk-1_4_1_02-fcs-linux-i386.rpm

ln -s /usr/java/j2sdk1.4.1_02/bin/java /usr/bin/java

java -version

java version "1.4.1_02"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.1_02-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.1_02-b06, mixed mode)

mount -t iso9660 -o nojoliet -o norock -o map=o /dev/cdrom /cdrom

cd /cdrom

ls

mount -t smbfs //192.168.1.1/wocd /cdrom -o username=smb,password=smb

cd /cdrom/Deployment/SOLARIS

./install.sh

cd /cdrom/Deployment/SOLARIS

./install.sh -license B-111-AAA-111-AAA-111-AAA-111-AAA-111 -adaptorsOnly NO -minimalInstall NO -cgibin /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin -docroot /usr/local/apache/htdocs -woroot /opt/Apple

ln -s /usr/bin/uncompress /usr/bin/compress

touch /etc/profile.local

export NEXT_ROOT=/opt/Apple

echo $NEXT_ROOT

apachectl stop

cd $NEXT_ROOT/Library/WebObjects/Executables

./WOServices stop

ln -s /bin/tar /bin/gnutar

cd /opt/install/woupdate

chmod a+x patcher.sh

./patcher.sh -install WO51SolarisUpdate3.TAR.Z

cd $NEXT_ROOT/Library/WebObjects/WODocumentRoot

cp -R WebObjects /usr/local/apache/htdocs/WebObjects

export OS=LINUX

<WEBOBJECTS 5.2>

Open $NEXT_ROOT/Developer/Examples/WebObjects/Source/Adaptors/Apache/Makefile and cut it around line 29, that means after the ifeq "SOLARIS" "${OS}"  ... endif block, delete all following lines until the end of the file. Then append the lines below to the end of the file so it looks like this:

ifeq "LINUX" "${OS}"
ENABLE_SSL_SUPPORT =
OPENSSL_INCL_FLAGS =
OPENSSL_LIB_FLAGS =
APACHE_INCL_FLAGS = -I/usr/local/apache/include
CFLAGS +=-DEAPI ${APACHE_INCL_FLAGS}
LDFLAGS += -G -L/lib -lc ${OPENSSL_LIB_FLAGS}
endif

CFLAGS += ${OPENSSL_INCL_FLAGS}
APXSFLAGS = -i


all: mod_WebObjects.so

mod_WebObjects.so : mod_WebObjects.o ${COMMON_OBJFILES}
○ld ${LDFLAGS} mod_WebObjects.o ${COMMON_OBJFILES} -o mod_WebObjects.so
○${APXS} ${APXSFLAGS} mod_WebObjects.so

mod_WebObjects.o : mod_WebObjects.c ${COMMON_OBJFILES}
○${CC} -c ${CFLAGS} mod_WebObjects.c ${COMMON_OBJFILES}

clean:
○rm -f mod_WebObjects.so mod_WebObjects.o *.o

include ../Adaptor/make.postamble

</WEBOBJECTS 5.2>

From here on it is the same again for both versions.

The last file to change is $NEXT_ROOT/Developer/Examples/WebObjects/Source/Adaptors/Adaptor/appcfg.c. Search for the following three lines, starting around line 52:

#ifndef MAXPATHLEN
#define MAXPATHLEN 255
#endif

Cut-and-paste these three lines _after_ the following lines (around line 72), like so:

#include <arpa/inet.h> /* inet_addr() */
#include <sys/param.h>
#endif

#ifndef MAXPATHLEN
#define MAXPATHLEN 255
#endif

After applying these changes, do the following:

cd $NEXT_ROOT/Developer/Examples/WebObjects/Source/Adaptors

make clean; make

cd $NEXT_ROOT/Developer/Examples/WebObjects/Source/Adaptors/Apache

cp apache.conf /usr/local/apache/conf/webobjects.conf

apachectl configtest

apachectl start

$NEXT_ROOT/Library/WebObjects/JavaApplications/wotaskd.woa/wotaskd &

rm -rf /opt/install/apache

rm -rf /opt/install/java

rm -rf /opt/install/woupdate