Development

You are encouraged to help contribute code to GeoWebCache. To do so, you will first need to set up the proper development environment.

This is the current prerequisites:

  • Sun/Oracle Java Developer Kit SE, version 1.5
  • Maven 2.x
  • Git

Please make sure you use Java 1.5 to compile to ensure that we do not introduce dependencies only available in 1.6.

You are encouraged to join the GeoWebCache Developers mailing list to discuss your work. It is always a good idea to ask whether anyone else has already solved the same problem.

Setting up Maven

  1. Get the installation file from http://maven.apache.org/download.html, unpack and include the bin directory in your PATH variable.

  2. Set JAVA_HOME to point to the root directory of your JDK, for example:

    Linux/OS X:

    $ export JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.5.0_21

    Windows:

    > set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_21

  3. Test that Maven is installed correctly:

    mvn -version

  4. Check that you are using the right version of the javac compiler, as this is determined by PATH, not JAVA_HOME:

    javac -version

  5. Check out the code:

    git clone https://github.com/GeoWebCache/geowebcache.git

To build the code, enter the geowebcache directory and run:

mvn clean install

To build with an embedded Jetty server to test changes:

mvn clean install jetty:run

To build a WAR file: Currently GeoWebCache has all classes in a single maven project. To build a WAR file, edit pom.xml and replace <!--WAR and WAR--> with < and > respectively. Run mvn clean install and you will find geowebcache.war inside the target directory.

Setting up Eclipse

  1. Inside the source code directory, run:

    mvn clean install eclipse:eclipse

Create a new workspace in Eclipse

  1. Set up Maven repository (Window -> Preferences -> Java -> Build Path -> Class Path Variables)
  2. Add a new variable M2_REPO, and set the path to <home directory>/.m2/repository
  3. Next, go to Java -> Code Style -> Formatter. Click on Import, choose geowebcache/tools/formatter.xml
  4. Now we need to import the actual project (File -> Import -> Existing Projects into Workspace)

To run GeoWebCache, go to Run -> Debug Configurations, double-click on Java Configurations

  • Set Name: GWC
  • The Project: geowebcache
  • For main class, set “Start”

Then press “Close”, or “Debug” if you want to try it right away.

Contributing patches

The prefered way of providing patches is to create an issue in GitHub a patch, which you create by running:

git diff > patch.txt

In addition to creating the issue, you are highly encouraged to jump on the GeoWebCache Developers mailing list to introduce the patch.

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