TOTD #13: Setup Mongrel for JRuby-on-Rails applications on Windows

In a previous entry, I posted instructions on how to setup Mongrel cluster for JRuby-on-Rails applications on Unix-based systems. The instructions specified there do not work on Windows-based systems because of the following reasons:

• JRuby 1.0.1 + (default) Rails Gem (version 1.2.4) does not work on Windows because of JRUBY-1401. An older Rails version (such as 1.2.3) can always be used as described below.
• JRuby 1.0.1 + (default) Mongrel 1.0.1 does not work on Windows because of JRUBY-1410, JRUBY-1411.

So if you want JRuby-on-Rails applications to deploy on Mongrel on Windows, then the workaround is to checkout the JRuby trunk and use Rails 1.2.3. This blog explains the instructions on how to do that. The Mongrel cluster cannot be configured on JRuby yet though.

As a side note, repeated invocation of "jruby" command will encounter JRUBY-1350. The workaround is to exit out of the current command prompt and execute the commands in a new one.

1. Check out the workspace and build it using the following commands:
   
   mkdir jruby-trunk
cd jruby-trunk
svn co http://svn.codehaus.org/jruby/trunk/jruby
ant
   
   Add jruby-trunk/bin to your PATH.
2. Install the required RubyGems
   1. Install Rails Gem version 1.2.3 using the command:
      
      C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\bin>jruby -J-Xmx384m -S gem install rails --version 1.2.3 --include-dependencies --no-ri --no-rdoc
Bulk updating Gem source index for: http://gems.rubyforge.org
Successfully installed rails-1.2.3
Successfully installed rake-0.7.3
Successfully installed activesupport-1.4.2
Successfully installed activerecord-1.15.3
Successfully installed actionpack-1.13.3
Successfully installed actionmailer-1.3.3
Successfully installed actionwebservice-1.2.3
   2. Before installing Mongrel, install the pre-requisite gems as shown below (see discussion here):
      
      C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\bin>jruby -S gem install gem_plugin --no-ri --no-rdoc
Successfully installed gem_plugin-0.2.2
      
      and another one:
      
      C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\bin>jruby -S gem install cgi_multipart_eof_fix --no-ri --no-rdoc
Successfully installed cgi_multipart_eof_fix-2.3
   3. Mongrel cannot be installed as a gem on JRuby yet. So download Mongrel gem and install it as shown below:
      
      C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\bin>jruby -S gem install mongrel-1.0.1-jruby.gem --no-ri --no-rdoc
Successfully installed mongrel, version 1.0.1

Make sure to invoke the command from the directory where the gem is downloaded.

   4. mongrel_cluster does not work with JRuby and mongrel_jcluster does not work on Windows. So Mongrel clusters cannot be configured on a Windows machine.

3. Create a new directory jruby-trunk\samples\rails and create a new Rails application as shown below:
   
   C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\samples\rails>..\..\bin\jruby -S rails hello
create
create app/controllers
create app/helpers
create app/models
...
create log/production.log
create log/development.log
create log/test.log
4. Change to the newly created directory and start Mongrel as shown below:
   
   C:\workspaces\jruby-trunk\samples\rails\hello>..\..\..\bin\jruby script\server
=> Booting Mongrel (use 'script/server webrick' to force WEBrick)
=> Rails application starting on http://0.0.0.0:3000
=> Call with -d to detach
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server
** Ruby version is not up-to-date; loading cgi_multipart_eof_fix
** Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000
** Starting Rails with development environment...
** Rails loaded.
** Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins
** Signals ready. TERM => stop. USR2 => restart. INT => stop (no restart).
** Rails signals registered. HUP => reload (without restart). It might not work well.
** Mongrel available at 0.0.0.0:3000
** Use CTRL-C to stop.
   
   The application is now available at http://localhost:3000 and shows the default "Welcome Aboard You're riding the Rails!" page. Hit Ctrl-C to stop Mongrel as shown below:
   
   ** INT signal received.
Exiting
C:/workspaces/jruby-trunk/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-1.4.2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:452:in `const_missing': Mongrel::StopServer (Mongrel::StopServer)
        from C:/workspaces/jruby-trunk/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-jruby/lib/mongrel.rb:723:in `run'
        from C:/workspaces/jruby-trunk/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-jruby/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:271:in `initialize'
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? y

An alternative to this behemoth configuration and lack of Mongrel cluster on Windows is to create a Web ARchive (WAR) of your JRuby-on-Rails application and deploy on GlassFish. A complete screencast of how this can be achieved using NetBeans IDE is shown here. A comprehensive list of JRuby on GlassFish documentation is available here.

Technorati: totd rubyonrails jruby mongrel windows jrubyonglassfish glassfish netbeans