developing and debugging CAS in eclipse

Owned by Kelly Sharp
Last updated: Jan 22, 2011Version comment
2 min read

I'm new to CAS development, but here's how I was able to get CAS up and running in eclipse:

1. Download CAS source repos:
    svn checkout https://source.jasig.org/cas-clients/java-client/tags/cas-java-client-3-1-10-final/ cas-client-3.1.10
    svn checkout https://source.jasig.org/cas3/tags/cas-server-3.4.2.1/ cas-server-3.4.2.1

2. Perform Maven2 builds:
    cd cas-client-3.1.10
    mvn package install
    cd ../cas-server-3.4.2.1
    [to authenticate against LDAP: add a "cas-server-support-ldap" dependency in cas-server-webapp/pom.xml]
    mvn package install

3. Test the generated WAR file in Tomcat (a sanity check to ensure default functionality):
    cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/target/cas.war

4. Prepare the Eclipse IDE
    Download and install Eclipse "Ganymede"
    Install m2eclipse plugin for Maven
    Import the cas-server-core, cas-server-ldap and cas-client-core projects from your svn repos:
        file > import > "existing maven projects"
    Create new empty "dynamic web project" in eclipse. Call it something like "CASWebappProject", for example.

5. Link the eclipse project to your local svn directory
    In the WebContent directory, delete the generated WEB-INF subdirectory
    In the WebContent directory, create the following symbolic links to the CAS source in your local svn directory:
        ln -s <for each path to maven src listed below>
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/css
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/images
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/js
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/themes
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/favicon.ico
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/webapp/index.jsp
    In the CASWebappProject src directory, create a symbolic link to the svn source packages:
        ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/src/main/java/org
    Copy the POM dependencies from Maven "target" into the web project library:
        cd into the WEB-INF directory
        cp -R ..cas-server-3.4.2.1/cas-server-webapp/target/cas-server-webapp-3.4.2.1/WEB-INF/lib/ .
    In Eclipse, use the "New Server" wizard to create a new "Server" project.
    Add the CASWebappProject to the server configuration
    Modify the WEB-INF/classes/log4j.xml so the the cas.log and perfStats.log file paths map to a permissible location
    In the CASWebappProject project, add the other projects to the build path

6. Right-click the CASWebappProject and "run as > run on server".

7. Source code changes you make in eclipse will be reflected in your local svn directory