snakefight 0.5
Assembles WAR files from Python (Jython) WSGI applications
License: BSD
Keywords: jython war

.. _usage:

snakefight
==========

snakefight generates `WAR files`_ from Python (Jython) WSGI applications,
suitable for deployment to Java `Servlet containers`_.

Installation
============

snakefight requires at least `Jython`_ 2.5b2. To install::

    $ easy_install snakefight

Creating WAR files
==================

snakefight provides a new distutils command: ``bdist_war``.

To create a `WAR file`, create a ``web.xml`` deployment descriptor (which would
typically utilize the `modjy`_ library for the actual Servlet) and run::

    $ jython setup.py bdist_war --web-xml web.xml

snakefight can automatically generate a ``web.xml`` (utilizing `modjy`_) for
Paste style projects (those that support the `paste.app_factory`_ entry point),
by specifying the ``--paste-config`` option. To specify a named app in the
config file, use the ``--paste-app-name`` option (which defaults to main)::

    $ jython setup.py bdist_war --paste-config production.ini --paste-app-name cascade

To include separate ``.jar`` files in the WAR's ``WEB-INF/lib`` directory,
specify a comma separated list of jars to the ``--include-jars`` option::

    $ jython setup.py bdist_war --include-jars jasper-runtime-5.5.9.jar,lucene-core-2.4.jar \
    > --web-xml web.xml

As with any distutils command the options may also be specified in the project's
``setup.cfg``::

    [bdist_war]
    paste-config = production.ini
    include-jars = jasper-runtime-5.5.9.jar
                   lucene-core-2.4.jar

snakefight can also be ran from CPython (at least version 2.5) as long as a
``JYTHON_HOME`` is specified::

    $ jython setup.py bdist_war --web-xml web.xml --jython-home=~/jython2.5b2

Other options:

* ``--war-prefix``      Prefix of the war file to build
* ``--no-jython``       Don't include the Jython distribution


TODO
====
Add options for:

* exclude-requires: exclude certain eggs from inclusion
* static_files: list of directories to serve public files (through the faster
  ``org.jruby.webapp.FileServlet``)
* specifying modjy options
* --unpacked: don't zip the war file

Support:

* non setuptools apps? (like Django apps) `django-jython`_ already handles
  Django but ideally we'd share code

Changelog
=========

0.5 (2011-12-10)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Fixed installation via pip.

0.4 (2009-07-15)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Reorder the auto-generated ``web.xml`` child tags for better
  validation.

* Use the actual distribution name (not the egg safe name) for the WAR
  filename.

* Close the war file handle before moving it, particularly for Windows.

0.3 (2009-03-13)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Added the ``--include-jars`` option

0.2 (2009-03-10)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* easy_install'ing the app is now the first step

0.1 (2009-03-08)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Initial release

.. _`Jython`: http://www.jython.org
.. _`WAR files`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_WAR_(file_format)
.. _`Servlet containers`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servlet_container
.. _`modjy`: http://modjy.xhaus.com/
.. _`paste.app_factory`: http://pythonpaste.org/deploy/#paste-app-factory
.. _`django-jython`: http://code.google.com/p/django-jython/