Installing VisiBroker 3.2 for Java on "unsupported" systems

This document lends a hand in installing Visibroker 3.2 for Java on what Visigenic likes to call "unsupported systems", namely the free Unices {Net,Free,Open}BSD and Linux, and MacOS.

Unfortunately, Visigenic ships its Java ORB with some native binaries for bootstrapping (osagent, locserv, osfind, vbver) and licence stamping of the JARs (stampvb.SunOS); you might consider reminding them politely of the Sun Java "Write Once, Run Anywhere" theme.

Prererequisites

• Your Macintosh, *BSD or Linux box
• A Windows NT/i386 system
• WinZip and JDK 1.1.* for NT
• MacOS: MacGzip and Suntar 2; working knowledge about shell scripts
• From www.visigenic.com get the win32 version (vbj32.exe; ~6 MB) and the SunOS/Solaris version ( vbj32_sol.tar; ~6 MB).

Move vbj32.exe to the NT box and install it; let the osagent be installed as NT service (the equivalent to UN*X server daemons). After the successful installation, open "Control Panels":Services and set the osagent to "automatic", then start it.

The NT box must be visible for your workstation on the network.

Unixoid workstations

Unpack vbj32_sol.tar to a temporary dir; this gives you some compressed tar files (Sun does not do gzip) and a Korn shell install script (installvb). Create a temp dir, say "misc_dir", ´cd´ into it and ´tar -zxf ../misc.tar.Z´ for a bunch of files, one of them named "stampvb.SunOS". Rename it, replacing "SunOS" with the output of uname(1) on your system. This is a SunOS/SPARC binary and thus of no use here, but the install script insists on touching it. Move the original ´misc.tar.Z´ out of the way, ´tar -cvf ../misc.tar *´ the directory contents and compress(1) the resulting tar file.

In installvb adjust the PATH and VBPWD variables, fix tar_update_flags if you are installing as root and add a switch entry for your OS with correct tar options, shared lib path and extensions.

For NetBSD/i386 1.3, this looks like

*** installvb	1998/03/27 15:49:22	1.1
--- installvb	1998/03/27 16:03:20
***************
*** 1,7 ****
  #!/bin/ksh
  
  # Set correct PATH
! export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:.:$PATH
  
  # Create Temporary Directory
  WHO=`whoami`
--- 1,7 ----
  #!/bin/ksh
  
  # Set correct PATH
! export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH:.
  
  # Create Temporary Directory
  WHO=`whoami`
***************
*** 12,18 ****
  fi
  
  # Set Directory Information
! VBPWD=`/usr/bin/pwd`
  VBDIR_DEFAULT=/usr/local/vbroker
  
  # Set Log Filename For Installer
--- 12,18 ----
  fi
  
  # Set Directory Information
! VBPWD=`/bin/pwd`
  VBDIR_DEFAULT=/usr/local/vbroker
  
  # Set Log Filename For Installer
***************
*** 439,444 ****
--- 439,450 ----
        shlib_ext=.so
        libpath_var=LD_LIBRARY_PATH
        ;;
+     NetBSD )
+       tar_view_flags=tf
+       tar_update_flags=xf
+       shlib_ext=.so
+       libpath_var=LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+       ;;
      * )
        tar_view_flags=tf
        tar_update_flags=xf
***************
*** 448,454 ****
  
  # Always extract as the current user
    if [ "$WHO" = "root" ]; then
!     tar_update_flags="oe${tar_update_flags}"
    fi
  
  # Specify correct stamping binary
--- 454,461 ----
  
  # Always extract as the current user
    if [ "$WHO" = "root" ]; then
!     #tar_update_flags="oe${tar_update_flags}"
!     tar_update_flags="${tar_update_flags}"
    fi
  
  # Specify correct stamping binary

    

Now, you should be set to cleanly run the installvb script. It asks a few questions, unpacks the tarballs, tries to stamp the jars (and fails because stamp.${YourOS} is not a native binary) and sets up a sh and a csh script to source before you start working.

As it stands now, your freshly installed VB 3.2 will die on the projects in ./java_examples because Visigenic likes to play some copy protection game with the jar files. So, copy the contents of <install dir>/lib on your NT box over to your workstation -- they were stamped correctly during installation.

MacOS

Sorry, no actual experience yet. We have Macintoshes here, but no Java IDEs, and I do not have an NT box for running osagent in my home net.

Some hints and educated guesses here:

• Unpacking will be alike the procedures for unixoid OSes except there is no need to fuzz around with the contents of ´misc.tar.Z´.
• Setting up class load paths, starting up idl2java and project management will depend strongly upon your IDE (Metrowerks CW2/3, Symantec VC2, ...). Project management issues like dependency checking for IDL files might be a tough one; unfortunately, there is no JVM for MPW.
• Look at the shell scripts installvb and ./bin/vbj for details of installation and startup. You do read sh scripts fluently, don´t you? ;)

Experiences

• The native JDK 1.1.5 port obviously has network problems; with the "bank" example, server and client are hanging silently and indefinitely.
• The Linux JDK 1.1.3 port ("Blackdown"), running in Linux emulation, throws an exception

   
  	[hf@scree] ~/<2>java_examples/event_bank > vbj Client Hans
  	org.omg.CORBA.NO_IMPLEMENT[completed=MAYBE, reason=
  	Could not locate the following object:
  		repository id : IDL:Bank/AccountManager:1.0
  		object name : BankManager
  	]
          at com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORB.bind(ORB.java:1261)
          at com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORB.bind(ORB.java:1343)
          at com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORB.bind(ORB.java:1150)
          at Bank.AccountManagerHelper.bind(AccountManagerHelper.java:49)
          at Bank.AccountManagerHelper.bind(AccountManagerHelper.java:46)
          at Client.main(Client.java:51)
  	[hf@scree] ~/<2>java_examples/event_bank >
  	
  

  but runs fine as soon as the osagent host is specified with ´-VBJprop ORBagentAddr=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx´.

Miscellaneous resources

Disclaimers

Trademarks are proprietary to whoever currently owns them.

When in doubt, "don´t try this at home". This document comes without any warranty.

This document looks better in XEmacs W3 than in Netscape.

Additions and corrections are most welcome.