Is it safe to use TeamSite::InstallUtils?

TeamSite 6.1 SP1
Windows 2003

I am looking to not hardwire the path to java within a script and noticed that make_toolkit.ipl imports a bunch of Java related variables from the TeamSite::InstallUtils perl module.

Specifically, I was hoping to use the $java variable which holds the path to the java binary. I was just unsure if it was safe to use it, since it looks like those variables were just thrown in there.

Can anyone provide any insight?

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Comments

shanon

as far as i know, the make_toolkit.ipl uses the jre that ships with the iwov distribution. it's in the iwhome/tools/javaxx directory.

i haven't looked at the script, but maybe try setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable and see if it uses it. if not, you can always modify the script to set the path explicitly, but i assume that iwov did this on purpose so they could avoid any possible incompatibility issues with future versions of java ( e.g. v1.5 annotations ).

hth,
shanon.

Shanon Levenherz
Mercer eBusiness Team
shanon.levenherz@mercer.com
http://www.mercerhr.com

Bill Klish

I might not have made this clear.

I have written my own script and was trying not to hard wire the path to java into it, to prevent problems during future upgrades. I saw that path defined in the TeamSite::InstallUtils library and was hoping to just point to that and not have to worry about rechecking my script once we upgrade TeamSite in the future to a new release or service pack.

Can someone from Interwoven comment on how safe it is to use this perl module?

Johnny

Well I'm not from iwov, but the hard and fast rule is that if it isn't a publish API, there's no garantee it will stay the same.

I would duplicate the module (you really shouldn't) and give it your own namespace (IE company::InstallUtils) and use that. Atleast your script(s) can rely on that and you will have only one touch point if something does change.

I've got into the habit of creating a "constants" type module that holds all this sort of stuff - which is the same effect, but minus all the "install" guff.

John Cuiuli

cliff1

I recommend against using this module since it specifically states that it is for internal use and subject to change. In this particular case, I agree with John that it is best to have a private module that duplicates the logic.

I see your predicament and don't have a perfect solution. In Teamsite 6.5, we upgraded to Java 1.4 (was java 1.3 prior to 6.5). As a result, we decided to drop the version number from the directory name, so the JVM is stored in <iwhome>/tools/java. We intend to stick with this directory naming convention going forward. I would use TeamSite::Config to get <iwhome> and then look for tools/java and alternately tools/java1.3 (choose the first).

-Cliff

Engineering Manager - TeamSite Client