Question

Currently we have a Java Restlet API with dependencies controlled via Maven. When we update the API we run maven assembly:assembly which does the unit tests etc and produces a single jar file. We then upload this to the production server and run it using nohup.

Is there a better or more automated way of doing this? Is this where something like Hudson would come in?

Thanks

Answer 1

My experience goes with webapp-deployment. But same should hold true here. Use Maven, Cargo, Nexus (or Artifactory), Hudson and probably, Jira in conjunction of product release.

Automated release process are more reliable because there is no human factor involved that may forget a step.

We also use Liquibase for database versioning. And, if you are dealing with database changes in your application deployment. You’ll realize Liquibase boosts so much confidence while running alter scripts.

I would suggest to go through the following resources

• Automated Deployment with Maven – going the whole nine yards If you can, literally follow this pattern.
• Maven 2 Effective Implementation — this book really helped us a lot.