When I run my grails application using embedded jetty server(tomcat for grails 1.2), I can make changes to my controllers, services and other java files on-the-fly at runtime without restarting the application. How can I achieve the same functionality on my application deployed on Tomcat(or any server) for that matter. I have observed the exploded war folder under webapps has gsp files but not the groovy files.
3 Answers
9
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Completing Eric's answer, you cannot change on the fly the source code in production environment. However, if you really want to modify your code in live you can:
- Change the groovy class, compile it, replace the .class file in the exploded war folder and restart tomcat (I know, I know, it's painful but I don't know a better way)
- For gsp files, there is a trick. add to your Config.groovy file the following property :
grails.gsp.enable.reload=true. This will allow you to change on the fly your gsp file. Be careful because it will hurt performance. See here for details
3
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1
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Is permgen issue specific to Spring/Grails or would the same hold true in a stripped down Tomcat/Groovlet setup?
Performance-wise, there is zero benefit to compiled Groovy file vs. non-compiled, correct? Is the compilation step just to get Java and Groovy working together?
I hope in the not-too-distant future we will have a fully reloadable production environment that performs well, and is without memory leaks.
Seems silly that Grails & Rails both offer no viable production reload option (in Grails, asking for a sooner-or-later permgen death). PHP is apparently dog slow, and yet millions of Apache/PHP driven sites deliver content to users in a snap. If we're not running Facebook, should we care about the performance penalties that we're warned of in *Rails camps?
From the outside looking in, ongoing Java permgen issue seems absurd, is it unsolvable?
