Apache Sling Starter

This module is part of the Apache Sling⁠ project.

The starter project produces feature artifacts that can be launched using the Feature Launcher⁠.

It is not meant to be a production-ready setup, more as a way to facilitate experimenting and learning Sling.

See Releasing a new version of the Sling starter⁠ for how to create a release of this module.

How to run the Sling Starter module in Standalone mode

NOTE: "mvn clean" deletes the "launcher" work directory in the project base directory. It is advisable to use a work directory outside of the project directory.

1. Build the Sling Starter using

    mvn clean install
   

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in the current directory.

Hint: You can defer stopping the instance after running the ITs with argument -Dfeature-launcher.waitForInput=true to do some manual checks.

1. Start Sling backed by an Oak SegmentStore with

    target/dependency/org.apache.sling.feature.launcher/bin/launcher -f target/slingfeature-tmp/feature-oak_tar.json
   

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2. Browse Sling in:

    http://localhost:8080
   

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For MongoDB support replace the launch command with

target/dependency/org.apache.sling.feature.launcher/bin/launcher -f target/slingfeature-tmp/feature-oak_mongo.json

This expects a MongoDB server to be running, search for mongodb:// in the feature files for the expected URL (currently mongodb://localhost:27017).

How to run the Sling Starter Docker image

The following tags are supported

• 12, latest - Apache Sling Starter 12 - ( Dockerfile⁠, Release notes⁠ )
• 11 - Apache Sling Starter 11 - ( Dockerfile⁠, Release notes⁠ )
• 10 - Apache Sling Starter 10 - ( Dockerfile⁠, Release notes⁠ )
• 9- Apache Sling Launchpad 9 - ( Dockerfile⁠, Release notes⁠ )
• snapshot - developments builds based on the latest version on the master branch - ( Dockerfile⁠ )

The Docker image only needs the port 8080 to be exposed

$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 apache/sling:snapshot

By default the image launches the oak_tar aggregate, which uses local persistence. The aggregate to launch can be selected by passing an additional argument to the image, e.g.:

$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 apache/sling:snapshot oak_mongo

Currently only the oak_tar and oak_mongo aggregates are supported.

For persisting the runtime data is is recommended to mount /opt/sling/launcher as a volume, for instance:

$ docker volume create sling-launcher
$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v sling-launcher:/opt/sling/launcher apache/sling:snapshot

The docker/ directory contains sample files related to container-based development.

Testing

The Sling Starter will execute two suites of tests using the maven-surefire-plugin:

1. A small set of smoke tests, embedded in the project, that verify the basic functionality of the Starter
2. An extensive set of end-to-end tests that verify the overall functionality of the Starter and the bundles that are embedded into it

By default, these are both executed when building the project against an Oak SegmentNodeStore backend.

Additionally, when the ci profile is enabled the smoke tests are also executed in against an Oak DocumentNodeStore backend. For technical resons, the full end-to-end tests are not executed.

Building the Docker image

This module can optionally build a Docker image. This is achieved by running a build with the -Ddocker.skip=false argument. By default, the image is built as apache/sling:snapshot. The tag can be overrriden using the docker.label Maven property.

$ mvn clean package -Ddocker.skip=false -Ddocker.label=local
$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 apache/sling:local

Extending the Sling Starter

If you wish the extend the Sling Starter but would like to keep various application-level features out, you can start with the nosample_base aggregate, which contains:

• all the base features
• Oak base features, without the NodeStore setup
• No applications ( Composum, Slingshot, etc )

For instance, launching an empty Sling Starter with segment persistence can be achieved by running

target/dependency/org.apache.sling.feature.launcher/bin/launcher -f target/slingfeature-tmp/feature-nosample_base.json,target/slingfeature-tmp/feature-oak_persistence_sns.json

Your own feature files can be added to the feature list.

Helper scripts

The scripts directory contains helper scripts that will aid with local development by simplifying the use of tools external to the Sling Starter.