Java Application Development on Linux

20.6. Disposition of Forces

Not to go all Sun-Tzu on you or anything, but if you want to win the war, you must control the initiative. In other words, move only when you are ready. Deploying software into JBoss could not be easier if you get everything ready before you begin.

You see, the key is to create a correctly configured WAR file, as a build.xml file from our project does (Example 20.6).

If you look at the deploy task, you will see that it simply copies the WAR file to a particular directory under the Web server^[16] and, it turns out, that is all you need to do to deploy to JBoss. JBoss will notice the new WAR file, stop any existing version, and start the new one. It all depends on getting the WAR file right.

^[16] Note that that's normal for development. For integration and production, either someone authorized will run the same build on the target, or (more likely) the WAR file will be "formally" built, tagged, and copied to the test or production server. We'll talk more about that when we get to application maintenance issues.