Value of GROOVY_HOME

[Andrew Goodspeed]

This question may make me look really stupid (and maybe I am) but is there any actual requirement for setting GROOVY_HOME or is it more of a best practices/convenience thing?

I ask because we are currently straddling versions. We are upgrading Grails, so for a time we have two different versions of Grails. We also have some Groovy (non-Grails) projects that we are trying to upgrade in loose connection with our Grails projects to keep our Groovy development at the same level. So what does GROOVY_HOME actually control? Is it important to have it set a certain way for something(s) to resolve correctly? JAVA_HOME is definitely important since both Groovy and Grails are going to look to it for the JDK. Does GROOVY_HOME have a similar effect somewhere?

We use GROOVY_HOME in the build scripts for our Groovy projects, but that is for convenience. We could just as easily use MY_GROOVY or something else. The bin directory that is in my PATH seems like the real determiner for any Groovy commands. And I believe that Grails uses the version of Groovy that is embedded in it regardless of GROOVY_HOME.

It is probably not the right place to ask but I have a similar question regarding GRAILS_HOME. Since I have (thankfully only) two versions of both to deal with it has become a real concern as to just what I am doing when I set G*_HOME.

Thanks for any assistance.

-Andy

[HamletDRC2]

GROOVY_HOME is read by all the startup scripts like "groovy", "groovyc", "groovyConsole", and "groovysh".

You can open startGroovy or startGroovy.bat in the distribution and see the usage.

As far as I know, GROOVY_HOME is not read by code, it is used by these applications. IE, the Groovy codebase never calls System.getProperty('GROOVY_HOME').

--
Hamlet D'Arcy
[hidden email]

----- Original Message -----

> This question may make me look really stupid (and maybe I am) but is
> there any actual requirement for setting GROOVY_HOME or is it more of
> a best practices/convenience thing?
>
> I ask because we are currently straddling versions. We are upgrading
> Grails, so for a time we have two different versions of Grails. We
> also have some Groovy (non-Grails) projects that we are trying to
> upgrade in loose connection with our Grails projects to keep our
> Groovy development at the same level. So what does GROOVY_HOME
> actually control? Is it important to have it set a certain way for
> something(s) to resolve correctly? JAVA_HOME is definitely important
> since both Groovy and Grails are going to look to it for the JDK. Does
> GROOVY_HOME have a similar effect somewhere?
>
> We use GROOVY_HOME in the build scripts for our Groovy projects, but
> that is for convenience. We could just as easily use MY_GROOVY or
> something else. The bin directory that is in my PATH seems like the
> real determiner for any Groovy commands. And I believe that Grails
> uses the version of Groovy that is embedded in it regardless of
> GROOVY_HOME.
>
> It is probably not the right place to ask but I have a similar
> question regarding GRAILS_HOME. Since I have (thankfully only) two
> versions of both to deal with it has become a real concern as to just
> what I am doing when I set G*_HOME.
>
> Thanks for any assistance.
>
> -Andy

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[Jochen Theodorou]

Am 27.01.2011 07:09, schrieb Hamlet DArcy:
> GROOVY_HOME is read by all the startup scripts like "groovy",
> "groovyc", "groovyConsole", and "groovysh".
>
> You can open startGroovy or startGroovy.bat in the distribution and
> see the usage.
>
> As far as I know, GROOVY_HOME is not read by code, it is used by
> these applications. IE, the Groovy codebase never calls
> System.getProperty('GROOVY_HOME').

I think the rootloader configuration part does read it. You find there
for example:

     # load required libraries
     load !{groovy.home}/lib/*.jar

but GROOVY_HOME is set by the startup script (startGroovy) if it was not
set to something the script assumes is correct. I in general have it not
set for example, and I have a dozend versions of Groovy on my computer

bye blackdrag

--
Jochen "blackdrag" Theodorou
The Groovy Project Tech Lead
http://blackdragsview.blogspot.com/
For Groovy programming sources visit http://groovy.codehaus.org


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[Andrew Goodspeed]

Jochen Theodorou wrote on 01/27/2011 03:42:18 AM:
> Am 27.01.2011 07:09, schrieb Hamlet DArcy:
> > GROOVY_HOME is read by all the startup scripts like "groovy",
> > "groovyc", "groovyConsole", and "groovysh".
> >
> > You can open startGroovy or startGroovy.bat in the distribution and
> > see the usage.
> >
> > As far as I know, GROOVY_HOME is not read by code, it is used by
> > these applications. IE, the Groovy codebase never calls
> > System.getProperty('GROOVY_HOME').
>
> I think the rootloader configuration part does read it. You find there
> for example:
>
>      # load required libraries
>      load !{groovy.home}/lib/*.jar
>
> but GROOVY_HOME is set by the startup script (startGroovy) if it was not
> set to something the script assumes is correct. I in general have it not
> set for example, and I have a dozend versions of Groovy on my computer

Thanks for the useful information!

Based on this it sounds like GROOVY_HOME is more of an inconvenience. It is best to leave it unset and let startGroovy do the right thing. If you set GROOVY_HOME to some version and then run with another version you are going to end up with an exception at best.

I would even go so far as to say my builds should find Groovy through something else (like a BUILD_GROOVY variable) so that I never have to set GROOVY_HOME at all!

-Andy

[Jochen Theodorou]

Am 27.01.2011 15:21, schrieb Andy Goodspeed:
[..]
> Based on this it sounds like GROOVY_HOME is more of an inconvenience. It
> is best to leave it unset and let startGroovy do the right thing. If you
> set GROOVY_HOME to some version and then run with another version you
> are going to end up with an exception at best.
>
> I would even go so far as to say my builds should find Groovy through
> something else (like a BUILD_GROOVY variable) so that I never have to
> set GROOVY_HOME at all!

GROOVY_HOME is to be set if for some strange reason the automatic lookup
does not work. It's not there to cause problems to people ;)

bye blackdrag

--
Jochen "blackdrag" Theodorou
The Groovy Project Tech Lead
http://blackdragsview.blogspot.com/
For Groovy programming sources visit http://groovy.codehaus.org


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[Andrew Goodspeed]

Jochen Theodorou wrote on 01/27/2011 09:25:22 AM:
> GROOVY_HOME is to be set if for some strange reason the automatic lookup
> does not work.

You'd never know that from the Getting Started entry on the web or any other documentation I have ever seen. They all say:

1. Install
2. Set GROOVY_HOME
3. Set PATH

And actually #3 is the one that is noted to be optional.

Thanks again for the insight!

-Andy

[Jochen Theodorou]

Am 27.01.2011 15:59, schrieb Andy Goodspeed:

> Jochen Theodorou wrote on 01/27/2011 09:25:22 AM:
>  > GROOVY_HOME is to be set if for some strange reason the automatic lookup
>  > does not work.
>
> You'd never know that from the Getting Started entry on the web or any
> other documentation I have ever seen. They all say:
>
> 1. Install
> 2. Set GROOVY_HOME
> 3. Set PATH
>
> And actually #3 is the one that is noted to be optional.

ah, ok, I changed the page now ;)

bye blackdrag

--
Jochen "blackdrag" Theodorou
The Groovy Project Tech Lead
http://blackdragsview.blogspot.com/
For Groovy programming sources visit http://groovy.codehaus.org


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