Set a system property with ant

antsystem-properties

I have an ant script which has a taskdef and the task creates an https internet connection and somethin with that SSL stuff is wrong. Thus I want to set the system property javax.net.debug=all to get some more information.

In java I would do this using the -D option, but in ant this is used for ant properties which is not the same as a system property.

If this wouldn't be a taskdef but instead a java task, I could use the sysproperty property, but it is no java-task.

Googling for this is frustratingly complicated because ant properties and system properties in ant are so similar that most search results are about the other (or about the java-task).

Obviously I am not the only one with the problem, but other people's questions that I have found (like here) are unanswered or went for hack (like here).

Best Answer

One way to set such a property is the ANT_OPTS system variable. You have to be very carefully to not simply skim over answers on google that state that options can be set that way, because it sounds so much like not what it does:

The documentation says:

ANT_OPTS - command-line arguments that should be passed to the JVM. For example, you can define system properties or set the maximum Java heap size here.

Who what have expected that? ANT_OPTS are options for the JVM and not for ant like the name suggests. The var which is used for ant options is called ANT_ARGS.

Now I can launch ant like this: ANT_OPTS="-Djavax.net.debug=all" ant myTarget and can see tons of log output.

(However this leaves the question open whether such a variable can be set using XML).

Related Solutions

Java – ant filtering – fail if property not set

If you are looking for a specific property, you can just use the fail task with the unless attribute, e.g.:

<fail unless="my.property">Computer says no. You forgot to set 'my.property'!</fail>

Refer to the documentation for Ant's fail task for more detail.

Specify system property to Maven project

Is there a way ( I mean how do I ) set a system property in a maven project? I want to access a property from my test [...]

You can set system properties in the Maven Surefire Plugin configuration (this makes sense since tests are forked by default). From Using System Properties:

<project>
  [...]
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.5</version>
        <configuration>
          <systemPropertyVariables>
            <propertyName>propertyValue</propertyName>
            <buildDirectory>${project.build.directory}</buildDirectory>
            [...]
          </systemPropertyVariables>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
  [...]
</project>

and my webapp ( running locally )

Not sure what you mean here but I'll assume the webapp container is started by Maven. You can pass system properties on the command line using:

mvn -DargLine="-DpropertyName=propertyValue"

Update: Ok, got it now. For Jetty, you should also be able to set system properties in the Maven Jetty Plugin configuration. From Setting System Properties:

<project>
  ...
  <plugins>
    ...
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.mortbay.jetty</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-jetty-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
         ...
         <systemProperties>
            <systemProperty>
              <name>propertyName</name>
              <value>propertyValue</value>
            </systemProperty>
            ...
         </systemProperties>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
  </plugins>
</project>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – ant filtering – fail if property not set

Specify system property to Maven project

Related Topic