PM91417;7.0.0: provide option for backwards compatibility for earexpander

Download Description

PM91417 resolves the following problem:

ERROR DESCRIPTION:
An option is necessary to provide backwards compatibility
for having the EARExpander command line utility extract files
from JAR files in all locations, not just in JavaEE active
locations.

LOCAL FIX:
n.a

PROBLEM SUMMARY

USERS AFFECTED:
All users of IBM WebSphere Application
Server

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
Partial application updates will not
update JARs in non-active Java
EE locations.

RECOMMENDATION:
None

Applications deployed to the WebSphere Application Server by
default only expand archives in active Java EE locations. For
example, JARS in a WAR's WEB-INF/lib directory are active.
JARs in other locations within a WAR are not active.
Because JARs not in active locations are not expanded, partial
application updates are not applied to these JARs. (Whole JAR
replacements are applied to these JARs.)
For example, the file "SampleScript.js" having the following
packaging structure is not updated:
SampleEAR.ear/
SampleWAR.war/
WEB-INF/SampleDir/NestedSampleDir/
SampleJar.jar/
SampleScript.js
Expansion is performed by internal processing steps, including
deployment steps, and including expansions performed by the
earExpander script.

PROBLEM CONCLUSION:
A custom property has been introduced which enables expansion of
all archives, even those outside of active Java EE locations:

org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.commonarchivecore.openAllArchives=true

By default, the custom property value is false. Setting the
value true will revert the fix introduced by PM42643, and
set the server to expand all archives. This should be done
sparingly since setting the server to expand archives outside
of active Java EE locations provides the best performance, and
avoids any problems caused by non-valid archives. For example,
simple corruption of an archive file, or use of multi-byte
characters for entries in a archive file.

To enable expansion of non-standard archives during deployment,
set the property on the processes involved with the deployment,
that is, on the Application Server process, and, if a Deployment
Manager is being used, on the Deployment Manager process.

To enable expansion by the earExpander script, set the property
as a Java Custom property by editing the earExpander script.

The property is not applied to JARs within JARs. JARs within
JARs will still not be expanded, even with the property set to
true.

Note that all JARs in EAR files are active and all JARs in RAR
files are active. The processing of JARs in EAR files and
JARs in RAR files is not affected by the custom property.


The fix for this APAR is currently targeted for inclusion in
fix packs 7.0.0.31, 8.0.0.8, and 8.5.5.2. Please refer to the
Recommended Updates page for delivery information:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27004980