CRaSH

CRaSH guide

Julien Viet

eXo Platform

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Running CRaSH
Standalone
Standalone mode
Attach mode
Embedded mode
Embedding as a web archive
Embedding with Spring
2. Interacting with the shell
Shell usage
Connection
Features
Command usage
Getting basic help
Command line usage
Base commands
sleep command
man command
log command
thread command
system command
jdbc command
3. JCR extension
JCR implementations
eXo JCR
Apache Jackrabbit
JCR commands
repo command
ws command
cd command
pwd command
ls command
cp command
mv command
rm command
node command
mixin command
select command
xpath command
commit command
rollback command
version command
SCP usage
Export a JCR node
Import a JCR node
4. Configuration
Configuration properties
Change the SSH server key
Change the ports of the telnet or SSH server
Remove the telnet or SSH access
Configure the shell default message
Configuration the authentication
Simple authentication
Jaas authentation
5. Extending CRaSH
Pluggable authentication
6. Developers
Developping commands
Commands as a script
Commands as a class
Multi commands
Command context
Adding style
Inter command API
7. Hey, I want to contribute!

List of Examples

1.1. Embedding CRaSH in a web application
1.2. Embedding CRaSH in SPring with the Telnet plugin
2.1. Remove all nt:unstructed nodes
2.2. Update the security of all nt:unstructed nodes
2.3. Add the mixin mix:referenceable to any node of type nt:file or nt:folder
6.1. The command context
6.2. Using shell session
6.3. Obtaining a Spring bean
6.4. The invocation context
6.5. Printing on the shell
6.6. Reading on the console
6.7. Decorating and coloring text
6.8. Printing styled text
6.9. Styling with the leftshift operator
6.10. dbscript.groovy

The Common Reusable SHell (CRaSH) deploys in a Java runtime and provides interactions with the JVM. Commands are written in Groovy and can be developped at runtime making the extension of the shell very easy with fast development cycle.

There are several ways to run CRaSH.

CRaSH provides has various ways to be started, it can also be easily embedded.

Standalone

Standalone mode

The standalone mode allows you to run CRaSH from the command line directly. It provides the same functionality as the war deployment but does not require a web container as it runs its own virtual machine. The directory crash directory in the application contains the standalone distribution.

The bin directory /crash/bin can be added to the system path, it contains the crash.sh script that will start the standalone mode, for instance you can set it up this way:

> export PATH=/.../crash/bin:$PATH
> crash.sh
   ______
 .~      ~. |`````````,       .'.                   ..'''' |         |
|           |'''|'''''      .''```.              .''       |_________|
|           |    `.       .'       `.         ..'          |         |
 `.______.' |      `.   .'           `. ....''             |         | 1.0.0-cr2-SNAPSHOT

Follow and support the project on http://vietj.github.com/crash
Welcome to jerry + !
It is Thu Apr 12 21:19:35 CEST 2012 now

Let's review quickly what you can find in standalone crash:

  • The bin directory contains the crash.sh script and the standalone crash jar file

  • The conf directory contains the configuration proerties crash.properties and JVM logging configuration logging.properties

  • The cmd directory contains the commands that will be available in crash by default it contains a few example commands

  • The lib directory contains the various libraries used by crash, you should place additional jar files there

Attach mode

The attach mode allows you to attach CRaSH to a JVM located on the same host with the attach API provided by the Hotspot JVM. It works thanks to the standalone mode, the main difference is when you run the command line you can specify a process id of a JVM and CRaSH will hook into the targetted JVM, let's see quickly an example of how to use it

> jps
3165 RemoteMavenServer
20650 Test
20651 Jps

> crash.sh 20650
   ______
 .~      ~. |`````````,       .'.                   ..'''' |         |
|           |'''|'''''      .''```.              .''       |_________|
|           |    `.       .'       `.         ..'          |         |
 `.______.' |      `.   .'           `. ....''             |         | 1.0.0-cr2-SNAPSHOT

Follow and support the project on http://vietj.github.com/crash
Welcome to jerry + !
It is Thu Apr 12 22:09:23 CEST 2012 now
%

In this example we will attach crash to the Test JVM. We obtained the Test JVM PID thanks to the jps command that belongs to the Java Platform. During this mode the commands are executed in the target JVM.

Embedded mode

Embedding as a web archive

CRaSH can use a standard web archive to be deployed in a web container. The war file is used for its packaging capabilities and triggering the CRaSH life cycle start/stop. In this mode CRaSH has two packaging available:

  • A core war file found under deploy/core/crash.war provides the base CRaSH functionnalities.

  • A gatein war file found under deploy/gatein/crash.war provides additional Java Content Repository (JCR) features but deploys only in a GateIn server (Tomcat or JBoss). It extends the core packaging and adds

    • JCR browsing and interactions

    • SCP support for JCR import and export

You have to copy the crash.war in the appropriate server, regardless of the packaging used.

If you want you can embed CRaSH in your own web.xml configuration:

Example 1.1. Embedding CRaSH in a web application

<web-app>
  <listener>
    <listener-class>org.crsh.plugin.WebPluginLifeCycle</listener-class>
  </listener>
</web-app>


Embedding with Spring

CRaSH can be easily embedded and configured in a Spring configuration, here is an example of embedding crash:

Example 1.2. Embedding CRaSH in SPring with the Telnet plugin

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd">

        <bean class="org.crsh.spring.SpringBootstrap">
    <property name="config">
      <props>
        <prop key="crash.telnet.port">4000</prop>
      </props>
    </property>
        </bean>

  <bean class="org.crsh.telnet.TelnetPlugin">
  </bean>

</beans>


In this mode, the plugins are not discovered using the classpath, instead each plugin must be declared as a Spring bean.

The configuration properties can be also set as properties with the config property of the SpringBootstrap bean.

Shell usage

Connection

You need to connect using telnet, SSH to use the shell, there is a third special mode using the JVM input and output.

Telnet access

Telnet connection is done on port 5000:

(! 520)-> telnet localhost 5000
Trying ::1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
   ______
 .~      ~. |`````````,       .'.                   ..'''' |         |
|           |'''|'''''      .''```.              .''       |_________|
|           |    `.       .'       `.         ..'          |         |
 `.______.' |      `.   .'           `. ....''             |         | 1.1.0-cr1

Follow and support the project on http://vietj.github.com/crash
Welcome to julien.local + !
It is Fri Dec 03 16:20:40 CET 2010 now

The bye command disconnect from the shell.

SSH access

SSH connection is done on port 2000 with the password crash :

juliens-macbook-pro:~ julien$ ssh -p 2000 -l root localhost
root@localhost's password:
CRaSH 1.1.0-cr1 (http://vietj.github.com/crash)
Welcome to juliens-macbook-pro.local!
It is Fri Jan 08 21:12:53 CET 2010 now.
%

The bye command disconnect from the shell.

Native access

A third mode is available for standalone CRaSH usage because it uses the JVM native input and output. When you are using it, CRaSh will be available just after the JVM is launched.

Features

  • Line edition: the current line can be edited via left and right arrow keys

  • History: the key up and key down enable history browsing

  • Quoting: simple quotes or double quotes allow to insert blanks in command options and arguments, for instance "old boy" or 'old boy'. One quote style can quote another, like "ol' boy".

  • Completion: an advanced completion system is available

Command usage

Getting basic help

The help command will display the list of known commands by the shell.

[/]% help
% help
Try one of these commands with the -h or --help switch:

  cd               changes the current node
  commit           saves changes
  consume          collects a set of nodes
  cp               copy a node to another
  env              display the term env
  exportworkspace  Export a workspace on the file system (experimental)
  fail             Fails
  help             provides basic help
  importworkspace  Import a workspace from the file system (experimental)
  invoke           Invoke a static method
  log              logging commands
  ls               list the content of a node
  man              format and display the on-line manual pages
  mixin            mixin commands
  mv               move a node
  node             node commands
  produce          produce a set of nodes
  pwd              print the current node path
  rm               remove one or several node or a property
  rollback         rollback changes
  select           execute a JCR sql query
  setperm          modify the security permissions of a JCR node
  sleep            sleep for some time
  thread           vm thread commands
  version          versioning commands
  wait             Invoke a static method
  ws               workspace commands
  xpath            execute a JCR xpath query

Command line usage

The basic CRaSH usage is like any shell, you just type a command with its options and arguments. However it is possible to compose commands and create powerful combinations.

Basic command usage

Typing the command followed by options and arguments will do the job

% ls /
...

Command help display

Any command help can be displayed by using the -h argument:

% ls -h
usage: ls [-h | --help] [-h | --help] [-d | --depth] path

   [-h | --help]  command usage
   [-h | --help]  command usage
   [-d | --depth] Print depth
   path           the path of the node content to list

In addition of that, commands can have a complete manual that can be displayed thanks to the man command:

% man ls
NAME
       ls - list the content of a node

SYNOPSIS
       ls [-h | --help] [-h | --help] [-d | --depth] [-d | --depth] path

DESCRIPTION
       The ls command displays the content of a node. By default it lists the content of the current node, however it also
       accepts a path argument that can be absolute or relative.

       [/]% ls
       /
       +-properties
       | +-jcr:primaryType: nt:unstructured
       | +-jcr:mixinTypes: [exo:owneable,exo:privilegeable]
       | +-exo:owner: '__system'
       | +-exo:permissions: [any read,*:/platform/administrators read,*:/platform/administrators add_node,*:/platform/administrators set_property,*:/platform/administrators remove]
       +-children
       | +-/workspace
       | +-/contents
       | +-/Users
       | +-/gadgets
       | +-/folder


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-d | --depth]
           Print depth

       path
           the path of the node content to list

Advanced command usage

A CRaSH command is able to consume and produce a stream of object, allowing complex interactions between commands where they can exchange stream of compatible objets. Most of the time, JCR nodes are the objects exchanged by the commands but any command is free to produce or consume any type.

By default a command that does not support this feature does not consumer or produce anything. Such commands usually inherits from the org.crsh.command.ClassCommand class that does not care about it. If you look at this class you will see it extends the the org.crsh.command.BaseCommand.

More advanced commands inherits from org.crsh.command.BaseCommand class that specifies two generic types <C> and <P>:

  • <C> is the type of the object that the command consumes

  • <P> is the type of the object that the command produces

The command composition provides two operators:

  • The pipe operator | allows to stream a command output stream to a command input stream

  • The distribution operator + allows to distribute an input stream to several commands and to combine the output stream of several commands into a single stream.

Connecting a <Void,Node> command to a <Node,Void> command through a pipe

Example 2.1. Remove all nt:unstructed nodes

% select * from nt:unstructed | rm


Connecting a <Void,Node> command to two <Node,Void> commands through a pipe

Example 2.2. Update the security of all nt:unstructed nodes

% select * from nt:unstructured | setperm -i any -a read + setperm -i any -a write


Connecting two <Void,Node> command to a <Node,Void> commands through a pipe

Example 2.3. Add the mixin mix:referenceable to any node of type nt:file or nt:folder

% select * from nt:file + select * from nt:folder | addmixin mix:referenceable


Mixed cases

When a command does not consume a stream but is involved in a distribution it will not receive any stream but will be nevertheless invoked.

Likewise when a command does not produce a stream but is involved in a distribution, it will not produce anything but will be nevertheless invoked.

Base commands

sleep command

NAME
       sleep - sleep for some time

SYNOPSIS
       sleep [-h | --help] time


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       time
           sleep time in seconds

man command

NAME
       man - format and display the on-line manual pages

SYNOPSIS
       man [-h | --help] command


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       command
           the command

log command

NAME
       log add - create one or several loggers

SYNOPSIS
       log [-h | --help] add ... name


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... name
           The name of the logger

NAME
       log set - configures the level of one of several loggers

SYNOPSIS
       log [-h | --help] set [-l | --level] [-p | --plugin] ... name

DESCRIPTION
       The set command sets the level of a logger. One or several logger names can be specified as arguments
       and the -l option specify the level among the trace, debug, info, warn and error levels. When no level is
       specified, the level is cleared and the level will be inherited from its ancestors.

       % logset -l trace foo
       % logset foo

       The logger name can be omitted and instead stream of logger can be consumed as it is a <Logger,Void> command.
       The following set the level warn on all the available loggers:

       % log ls | log set -l warn


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-l | --level]
           The logger level to assign among {trace, debug, info, warn, error}

       [-p | --plugin]
           Force the plugin implementation to use

       ... name
           The name of the logger

NAME
       log send - send a message to a logger

SYNOPSIS
       log [-h | --help] send [-m | --message] [-l | --level] name

DESCRIPTION
       The send command log one or several loggers with a specified message. For instance the following impersonates
       the javax.management.mbeanserver class and send a message on its own logger.

       #% log send -m hello javax.management.mbeanserver

       Send is a <Logger, Void> command, it can log messages to consumed log objects:

       % log ls | log send -m hello -l warn


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-m | --message]
           The message to log

       [-l | --level]
           The logger level to assign among {trace, debug, info, warn, error}

       name
           The name of the logger

NAME
       log info - display info about a logger

SYNOPSIS
       log [-h | --help] info ... name

DESCRIPTION
       The loginfo command displays information about one or several loggers.

       % loginfo javax.management.modelmbean
       javax.management.modelmbean<INFO>

       The loginfo command is a <Logger,Void> command and it can consumed logger produced by the logls command:

       % logls -f javax.* | loginfo
       javax.management.mbeanserver<INFO>
       javax.management.modelmbean<INFO>


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... name
           The name of the logger

NAME
       log ls - list the available loggers

SYNOPSIS
       log [-h | --help] ls [-f | --filter]

DESCRIPTION
       The logls command list all the available loggers., for instance:

       % logls
       org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].[/].[default]
       org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].[/eXoGadgetServer].[concat]
       org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].[/dashboard].[jsp]
       ...

       The -f switch provides filtering with a Java regular expression

       % logls -f javax.*
       javax.management.mbeanserver
       javax.management.modelmbean

       The logls command is a <Void,Logger> command, therefore any logger produced can be consumed.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-f | --filter]
           A regular expressions used to filter the loggers

thread command

NAME
       thread stop - stop vm threads

SYNOPSIS
       thread [-h | --help] stop ... ids

DESCRIPTION
       Stop VM threads.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... ids
           the thread ids to stop

NAME
       thread interrupt - interrupt vm threads

SYNOPSIS
       thread [-h | --help] interrupt ... ids

DESCRIPTION
       Interrup VM threads.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... ids
           the thread ids to interrupt

NAME
       thread ls - list the vm threads

SYNOPSIS
       thread [-h | --help] ls [-n | --name] [-f | --filter] [-s | --state]


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-n | --name]
           Retain the thread with the specified name

       [-f | --filter]
           Filter the threads with a regular expression on their name

       [-s | --state]
           Filter the threads by their status (new,runnable,blocked,waiting,timed_waiting,terminated)

NAME
       thread dump - dump vm threads

SYNOPSIS
       thread [-h | --help] dump ... ids

DESCRIPTION
       Dump VM threads.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... ids
           the thread ids to dump

system command

NAME
       system gc - call garbage collector

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] gc


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

NAME
       system propls - list the vm system properties

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] propls [-f | --filter]


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-f | --filter]
           filter the property with a regular expression on their name

NAME
       system propset - set a system property

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] propset name value


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       name
           The name of the property

       value
           The value of the property

NAME
       system propget - get a system property

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] propget name


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       name
           The name of the property

NAME
       system proprm - remove a system property

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] proprm name


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       name
           The name of the property

NAME
       system freemem - show free memory

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] freemem [-u | --unit] [-d | --decimal]


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-u | --unit]
           The unit of the memory space size {(B)yte, (O)ctet, (M)egaOctet, (G)igaOctet}

       [-d | --decimal]
           The number of decimal (default 0)

NAME
       system totalmem - show total memory

SYNOPSIS
       system [-h | --help] totalmem [-u | --unit] [-d | --decimal]


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-u | --unit]
           The unit of the memory space size {(B)yte, (O)ctet, (M)egaOctet, (G)igaOctet}

       [-d | --decimal]
           The number of decimal (default 0)

jdbc command

NAME
       jdbc close - close the current connection

SYNOPSIS
       jdbc [-h | --help] close


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

NAME
       jdbc open - open a connection from JNDI bound datasource

SYNOPSIS
       jdbc [-h | --help] open globalName


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       globalName
           The datasource JNDI name

NAME
       jdbc connect - connect to database with a JDBC connection string

SYNOPSIS
       jdbc [-h | --help] connect [-u | --username] [-p | --password] [--properties] connectionString


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-u | --username]
           The username

       [-p | --password]
           The password

       [--properties]
           The extra properties

       connectionString
           The connection string

NAME
       jdbc info - describe the database

SYNOPSIS
       jdbc [-h | --help] info ... tableNames


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... tableNames
           the table names

NAME
       jdbc execute - execute SQL statement

SYNOPSIS
       jdbc [-h | --help] execute ... statement


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... statement
           The statement

The CRaSH JCR extension allow to connect and interract with Java Content Repository implementations.

JCR implementations

eXo JCR

todo

Apache Jackrabbit

CRaSH has been tested with Jackrabbit in the following mode : deploiement as a resource accessible via JNDI on JBoss 6.1.0.

JCR commands

repo command

NAME
       repo info - show info about the current repository

SYNOPSIS
       repo [-h | --help] info

DESCRIPTION
       The info command print the descriptor of the current repository.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

NAME
       repo ls - list the available repository plugins

SYNOPSIS
       repo [-h | --help] ls

DESCRIPTION
       The ls command print the available repository plugins.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

NAME
       repo use - changes the current repository

SYNOPSIS
       repo [-h | --help] use parameters

DESCRIPTION
       The use command changes the current repository used by for JCR commands. The command accepts a set of properties
       as main command argument that will be used to select a repository:

       % repo use parameterName=parameterValue;nextParameterName=nextParameterValue

       The parameters is specific to JCR plugin implementations, more details can be found thanks to the ls command.



PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       parameters
           The parameters used to instantiate the repository to be used in this session

ws command

NAME
       ws login - login to a workspace

SYNOPSIS
       ws [-h | --help] login [-u | --username] [-p | --password] [-c | --container] workspaceName

DESCRIPTION

       This command login to a JCR workspace and establish a session with the repository.
       When you are connected the shell maintain a JCR session and allows you to interact with the session in a shell
       oriented fashion. The repository name must be specified and optionally you can specify a user name and password to
       have more privileges.

       Before performing a login operation, a repository must be first selected with the repo command, for instance:

       % repo use container=portal

       Once a repository is obtained the login operation can be done:

       % ws login portal-system
       Connected to workspace portal-system

       % ws login -u root -p gtn portal-system
       Connected to workspace portal-system




PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-u | --username]
           The user name

       [-p | --password]
           The user password

       [-c | --container]
           The portal container name (eXo JCR specific)

       workspaceName
           The name of the workspace to connect to

NAME
       ws logout - logout from a workspace

SYNOPSIS
       ws [-h | --help] logout

DESCRIPTION
       This command logout from the currently connected JCR workspace


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

cd command

NAME
       cd - changes the current node

SYNOPSIS
       cd [-h | --help] path

DESCRIPTION
       The cd command changes the current node path. The command used with no argument changes to the root
       node. A relative or absolute path argument can be provided to specify a new current node path.

       [/]% cd /gadgets
       [/gadgets]% cd /gadgets
       [/gadgets]% cd
       [/]%


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       path
           The new path that will change the current node navigation

pwd command

NAME
       pwd - print the current node path

SYNOPSIS
       pwd [-h | --help]

DESCRIPTION
       The pwd command prints the current node path, the current node is produced by this command.

       [/gadgets]% pwd
       /gadgets


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

ls command

NAME
       ls - list the content of a node

SYNOPSIS
       ls [-h | --help] [-d | --depth] path

DESCRIPTION
       The ls command displays the content of a node. By default it lists the content of the current node, however it also
       accepts a path argument that can be absolute or relative.

       [/]% ls
       /
       +-properties
       | +-jcr:primaryType: nt:unstructured
       | +-jcr:mixinTypes: [exo:owneable,exo:privilegeable]
       | +-exo:owner: '__system'
       | +-exo:permissions: [any read,*:/platform/administrators read,*:/platform/administrators add_node,*:/platform/administrators set_property,*:/platform/administrators remove]
       +-children
       | +-/workspace
       | +-/contents
       | +-/Users
       | +-/gadgets
       | +-/folder


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-d | --depth]
           The depth of the printed tree

       path
           The path of the node content to list

cp command

NAME
       cp - copy a node to another

SYNOPSIS
       cp [-h | --help] source target

DESCRIPTION
       The cp command copies a node to a target location in the JCR tree.

       [/registry]% cp foo bar


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       source
           The path of the source node to copy

       target
           The path of the target node to be copied

mv command

NAME
       mv - move a node

SYNOPSIS
       mv [-h | --help] source target

DESCRIPTION
       The mv command can move a node to a target location in the JCR tree. It can be used also to rename a node. The mv
       command is a <Node,Node> command consuming a stream of node to move them and producing nodes that were moved.

       [/registry]% mv Registry Registry2


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       source
           The path of the source node to move, absolute or relative

       target
           The destination path absolute or relative

rm command

NAME
       rm - remove one or several node or a property

SYNOPSIS
       rm [-h | --help] ... paths

DESCRIPTION
       The rm command removes a node or property specified by its path either absolute or relative. This operation
       is executed against the JCR session, meaning that it will not be effective until it is commited to the JCR server.

       [/]% rm foo
       Node /foo removed

       It is possible to specify several nodes.

       [/]% rm foo bar
       Node /foo /bar removed

       rm is a <Node,Void> command removing all the consumed nodes.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       ... paths
           The paths of the node to remove

node command

NAME
       node add - creates one or several nodes

SYNOPSIS
       node [-h | --help] add [-t | --type] ... paths

DESCRIPTION
       The addnode command creates one or several nodes. The command takes at least one node as argument, but it can
       take more. Each path can be either absolute or relative, relative path creates nodes relative to the current node.
       By default the node type is the default repository node type, but the option -t can be used to specify another one.

       [/registry]% addnode foo
       Node /foo created

       [/registry]% addnode -t nt:file bar juu
       Node /bar /juu created

       The addnode command is a <Void,Node> command that produces all the nodes that were created.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-t | --type]
           The name of the primary node type to create.

       ... paths
           The paths of the new node to be created, the paths can either be absolute or relative.

NAME
       node set - set a property on the current node

SYNOPSIS
       node [-h | --help] set [-t | --type] propertyName propertyValue

DESCRIPTION
       The set command updates the property of a node.

       Create or destroy property foo with the value bar on the root node:

       [/]% set foo bar
       Property created

       Update the existing foo property:

       [/]% set foo juu

       When a property is created and does not have a property descriptor that constraint its type, you can specify it
       with the -t option

       [/]% set -t LONG long_property 3

       Remove a property

       [/]% set foo

       set is a <Node,Void> command updating the property of the consumed node stream.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-t | --type]
           The property type to use when it cannot be inferred

       propertyName
           The name of the property to alter

       propertyValue
           The new value of the property

NAME
       node import - imports a node from an nt file

SYNOPSIS
       node [-h | --help] import source target

DESCRIPTION
       Imports a node from an nt:file node located in the workspace:

       [/]% importnode /gadgets.xml /
       Node imported



PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       source
           The path of the imported nt:file node

       target
           The path of the parent imported node

NAME
       node export - export a node to an nt file

SYNOPSIS
       node [-h | --help] export source target

DESCRIPTION
       Exports a node as an nt file in the same workspace:

       [/]% node export gadgets /gadgets.xml
       The node has been exported



PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       source
           The path of the exported node

       target
           The path of the exported nt:file node

mixin command

NAME
       mixin add - add a mixin to one or several nodes

SYNOPSIS
       mixin [-h | --help] add mixin ... paths

DESCRIPTION
       The add command addds a mixin to one or several nodes, this command is a <Node,Void> command, and can
       add a mixin from an incoming node stream, for instance:

       [/]% select * from mynode | mixin add mix:versionable



PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       mixin
           the mixin name to add

       ... paths
           the paths of the node receiving the mixin

NAME
       mixin remove - removes a mixin from one or several nodes

SYNOPSIS
       mixin [-h | --help] remove mixin ... paths

DESCRIPTION
       The remove command removes a mixin from one or several nodes, this command is a <Node,Void> command, and can
       remove a mixin from an incoming node stream, for instance:

       [/]% select * from mynode | mixin remove mix:versionable



PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       mixin
           the mixin name to remove

       ... paths
           the paths of the node receiving the mixin

select command

NAME
       select - execute a JCR sql query

SYNOPSIS
       select [-h | --help] [-o | --offset] [-l | --limit] [-a | --all] ... query

DESCRIPTION
       Queries in SQL format are possible via the ##select## command. You can write a query with the same syntax defined
       by the specification and add options to control the number of results returned. By default the number of nodes is limited
       to 5 results:

       [/]% select * from nt:base
       The query matched 1114 nodes
       +-/
       | +-properties
       | | +-jcr:primaryType: nt:unstructured
       | | +-jcr:mixinTypes: [exo:owneable,exo:privilegeable]
       | | +-exo:owner: '__system'
       | | +-exo:permissions: [any read,*:/platform/administrators read,*:/platform/administrators add_node,*:/platform/administratorsset_property,*:/platform/administrators remove]
       +-/workspace
       | +-properties
       | | +-jcr:primaryType: mop:workspace
       | | +-jcr:uuid: 'a69f226ec0a80002007ca83e5845cdac'
       ...

       Display 20 nodes from the offset 10:

       [/]% select * from nt:base -o 10 -l 20
       The query matched 1114 nodes
       ...

       It is possible also to remove the limit of displayed nodes with the -a option (you should use this option with care) :

       [/]% select * from nt:base -a
       The query matched 1114 nodes
       ...

       select is a <Void,Node> command producing all the matched nodes.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-o | --offset]
           The offset of the first node to display

       [-l | --limit]
           The number of nodes displayed, by default this value is equals to 5

       [-a | --all]
           Display all the results by ignoring the limit argument, this should be used with care for large result set

       ... query
           The query, as is

xpath command

NAME
       xpath - execute a JCR xpath query

SYNOPSIS
       xpath [-h | --help] [-o | --offset] [-l | --limit] [-a | --all] query

DESCRIPTION
       Executes a JCR query with the xpath dialect, by default results are limited to 5.All results matched by the query are produced by this command.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       [-o | --offset]
           The offset of the first node to display

       [-l | --limit]
           The number of nodes displayed, by default this value is equals to 5

       [-a | --all]
           Display all the results by ignoring the limit argument, this should be used with care for large result set

       query
           The query

commit command

NAME
       commit - saves changes

SYNOPSIS
       commit [-h | --help] path

DESCRIPTION
       Saves the changes done to the current session. A node can be provided to save the state of the
       this nodes and its descendants only.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       path
           The path of the node to commit

rollback command

NAME
       rollback - rollback changes

SYNOPSIS
       rollback [-h | --help] path

DESCRIPTION
       Rollbacks the changes of the current session. A node can be provided to rollback the state of the
       this nodes and its descendants only.


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       path
           the path to rollback

version command

NAME
       version checkin - checkin a node

SYNOPSIS
       version [-h | --help] checkin path

DESCRIPTION
       Perform a node checkin


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       path
           The node path to checkin

NAME
       version checkout - checkout a node

SYNOPSIS
       version [-h | --help] checkout path

DESCRIPTION
       Perform a node checkout


PARAMETERS
       [-h | --help]
           Provides command usage

       path
           The node path to checkout

SCP usage

Secure copy can be used to import or export content. The username/password prompted by the SSH server will be used for authentication against the repository when the import or the export is performed.

Export a JCR node

The following command will export the node /gadgets in the repository portal-system of the portal container portal:

scp -P 2000 root@localhost:portal:portal-system:/production/app:gadgets gadgets.xml

The node will be exported as app_gadgets.xml.

Note that the portal container name is used for GateIn. If you do omit it, then the root container will be used.

Import a JCR node

The following command will reimport the node:

scp -P 2000 gadgets.xml root@localhost:portal:portal-system:/production/

The exported file format use the JCR system view. You can get more information about that in the JCR specification.

Caution

The SCP feature is experimental

Configuration properties

CRaSH is configured by a set of properties, these properties are defined in a configuration file. In the war file packaging, the configuration file can be found under /WEB-INF/crash/crash.properties file of the archive. Configuration can be overriden by Java Virtual Machine system properties by using the same property name.

Note

CRaSH properties are always prefixed by the crash. value

Change the SSH server key

The key can be changed by replacing the file WEB-INF/sshd/hostkey.pem. Alternatively you can configure the server to use an external file by using the crash.ssh.keypath parameter in the crash.properties. Uncomment the corresponding property and change the path to the key file.

#crash.ssh.keypath=/path/to/the/key/file

Change the ports of the telnet or SSH server

The ports of the server are parameterized by the crash.ssh.port and crash.telnet.port parameters in the crash.properties file

# SSH configuration
crash.ssh.port=2000
# Telnet configuration
crash.telnet.port=5000

Remove the telnet or SSH access

  • to remove the telnet access, remove the jar file in the WEB-INF/lib/crsh.shell.telnet-1.1.0-cr1.jar .

  • to remove the SSH access, remove the jar file in the WEB-INF/lib/crsh.shell.ssh-1.1.0-cr1.jar .

Configure the shell default message

The /WEB-INF/crash/commands/base/login.groovy file contains two closures that are evaluated each time a message is required

  • The prompt closure returns the prompt message

  • The welcome closure returns the welcome message

Those closure can be customized to return different messages.

Configuration the authentication

Authentication is used by the SSH server when a user authenticates. Authentication interface is pluggable and has default implementations. The the section called “Pluggable authentication ” explains how to write a custom authentication plugin, in this section we cover the configuation of the authentication.

The configuration of the authentication plugin is done via property, this is necessary because several plugins can be detected by CRaSH, and the plugin is selected via the property crash.auth that must match the authentication plugin name:

crash.auth=simple

CRaSH comes out of the box with two authentication plugins.

Simple authentication

Simple authentication provides a simple username/password authentication configured with the crash.auth.simple.username and crash.auth.simple.password properties:

# Authentication configuration
crash.auth=simple
crash.auth.simple.username=admin
crash.auth.simple.password=admin

Jaas authentation

Jaas authentication uses jaas to perform authentication configured with the crash.auth.jaas.domain property to define the jaas domain to use when performing authentication:

# Authentication configuration
crash.auth=jaas
crash.auth.jaas.domain=gatein-domain

Table of Contents

Pluggable authentication

Pluggable authentication

Creating a custom is done by implementing a CRaSH plugin that provides an implementation of the AuthenticationPlugin interface, let's study the simple authentication plugin implementation.

The AuthenticationPlugin is the interface to implement to integrate CRaSH with an authentication mechanism:

public interface AuthenticationPlugin {

  /**
   * Returns the authentication plugin name.
   *
   * @return the plugin name
   */
  String getName();

  /**
   * Returns true if the user is authentified by its username and password.
   *
   * @param username the username
   * @param password the password
   * @return true if authentication succeeded
   * @throws Exception any exception that would prevent authentication to happen
   */
  boolean authenticate(String username, String password) throws Exception;
}

The integration as a CRaSH plugin mandates to extend the class CRaSHPlugin with the generic type AuthenticationPlugin:

public class SimpleAuthenticationPlugin extends
    CRaSHPlugin<AuthenticationPlugin> implements
    AuthenticationPlugin {

  public String getName() {
    return "simple";
  }

  @Override
  public AuthenticationPlugin getImplementation() {
    return this;
  }

  ...

}
  • The getName() method returns the simple value that matchs the crash.auth configuration property

  • The getImplementation() method returns the object that implements the AuthenticationPlugin class, this method is implemented from the CRaSHPlugin abstract class, in our case it simply returns this as the plugin and the implementation of AuthentionPlugin are the same class

Now let's study how the plugin retrieves the configuration properties crash.auth.simple.username and crash.auth.simple.password:

public class SimpleAuthenticationPlugin extends
    CRaSHPlugin<AuthenticationPlugin> implements
    AuthenticationPlugin {

  public static final PropertyDescriptor<String> SIMPLE_USERNAME =
    PropertyDescriptor.create(
      "auth.simple.username",
      "admin",
      "The username");

  public static final PropertyDescriptor<String> SIMPLE_PASSWORD =
    PropertyDescriptor.create(
      "auth.simple.password",
      "admin",
      "The password");

  @Override
  protected Iterable<PropertyDescriptor<?>> createConfigurationCapabilities() {
    return Arrays.<PropertyDescriptor<?>>asList(
      SIMPLE_USERNAME,
      SIMPLE_PASSWORD);
  }

  private String username;

  private String password;

  @Override
  public void init() {
    PluginContext context = getContext();
    this.username = context.getProperty(SIMPLE_USERNAME);
    this.password = context.getProperty(SIMPLE_PASSWORD);
  }

  ...

}
  • The createConfigurationCapabilities() method returns the constants SIMPLE_USERNAME and SIMPLE_PASSWORD that defines the configuration properties that the plugin uses

  • The init() method is invoked by CRaSH before the plugin will be used, at this moment, the configuration properties are retrieved from the plugin context with the method getContext() available in the CRaSHPlugin base class

Finally the plugin needs to provide the authenticate() method that implement the authentication logic:

  public boolean authenticate(String username, String password)
    throws Exception {
    return this.username != null &&
      this.password != null &&
      this.username.equals(username) &&
      this.password.equals(password);
  }

The logic is straightforward with an equality check of the username and password.

Last but not least we must declare our plugin to make it recognized by CRaSH, this is achieved thanks to the java.util.ServiceLoader class. CRaSH uses the ServiceLoader for loading plugins and the loader needs a file to be present in the jar file containing the class under the name META-INF/services/org.crsh.plugin.CRaSHPlugin containing the class name of the plugin:

org.crsh.auth.SimpleAuthenticationPlugin

When all of this is done, the plugin and its service loader descriptor must be package in a jar file and available on the classpath of CRaSH.

Note

You can learn more about the java.util.ServiceLoader by looking at the online javadoc

Developping commands

A CRaSH command is written in the Groovy language. The Groovy language provides several signifiant advantages:

  • Commands can be bare scripts or can be a class

  • Java developers can write Groovy commands without learning it

  • Groovy is dynamic and expressive

Each command has a corresponding Groovy file that contains a command class that will be invoked by the shell. The files are located in

  • In the standalone distribution the cmd directory

  • In a web archive deployment the /WEB-INF/crash/commands directory

New commands can directly be placed in the commands directory however they can also be placed in a sub directory of the command directory, which is useful to group commands of the same kind.

In addition of that there are two special files called login.groovy and logout.groovy that are executed upon login and logout of a user. They are useful to setup and cleanup things related to the current user session.

Commands as a script

The simplest command can be a simple script that returns a string

return "Hello World";

It is possible to use also the out implicit variable to send a message to the console:

out.println("Hello World");

Commands as a class

Class can also be used to defined a command, it provides significant advantages over scripts:

  • Commands can declare options and arguments for the command

  • Commands can use annotations to describe the command behavior and parameters

When the user types a command in the sell, the command line is parsed by the cmdline framework and injected in the command class. Previously the args4j framework was used but this framework does not support natively code completion and could not be extended to support it. The support of command line completion is the main motivation of the development of such a framework.

Let's study a simple class command example:

class date extends CRaSHCommand {
  @Usage("show the current time")
  @Command
  Object main(@Usage("the time format") @Option(names=["f","format"]) String format) {
    if (format == null)
      format = "EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss z yyyy";
    def date = new Date();
    return date.format(format);
  }
}

The command is pretty straightforward to undertand:

  • The @Command annotation declares the main method as a command

  • The command takes one optional format option

  • The @Usage annotation describes the usage of the command and its parameters

% date
Thu Apr 19 15:44:05 CEST 2012

The @Usage annotation is important because it will give a decent humand description of the command

% date -h
usage: date [-h | --help] [-f | --format]

   [-h | --help]   command usage
   [-f | --format] the time format

Multi commands

A class can hold several commands allowing a single file to group several commands, let's study the JDBC command structure:

@Usage("JDBC connection")
class jdbc extends CRaSHCommand {

  @Usage("connect to database with a JDBC connection string")
  @Command
  public String connect(
          @Usage("The username") @Option(names=["u","username"]) String user,
          @Usage("The password") @Option(names=["p","password"]) String password,
          @Usage("The extra properties") @Option(names=["properties"]) Value.Properties properties,
          @Usage("The connection string") @Argument String connectionString) {
     ...
  }

  @Usage("close the current connection")
  @Command
  public String close() {
     ...
  }
}

We can see that the class declares two commands connect and close, they are invoked this way:

% jdbc connect jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true
Connected to data base : jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true
% jdbc close
Connection closed

Command context

During the execution of a command, CRaSH provides a context for interacting with the context of execution of the current command: the property context is resolve to an instance of org.crsh.command.InvocationContext, the invocation context class extends the org.crsh.command.CommandContext, let's have a look at those types:

Example 6.1. The command context

/**
 * The context of a command.
 *
 * @author <a href="mailto:julien.viet@exoplatform.com">Julien Viet</a>
 * @version $Revision$
 */
public interface CommandContext {


  /**
   * Returns the current shell session.
   *
   * @return the session map
   */
  Map<String, Object> getSession();

  /**
   * Returns the current shell attributes.
   *
   * @return the attributes map
   */
  Map<String, Object> getAttributes();

}


The CommandContext provides access to the shell session as a Map<String, Object>. Session attributes can be accessed using this map, but they are also accessible as Groovy script properties. It means that writing such code will be equivalent:

Example 6.2. Using shell session

context.session["foo"] = "bar"; (1) 
out.println(bar); (2) 

1

Bind the session attribute foo with the value bar

2

The bar is resolved as an session attribute by Groovy


The CommandContext provides also access to the shell attributes as a Map<String, Object>. Context attributes are useful to interact with object shared globally by the CRaSH environment:

  • When embedded in a web application: context attributes resolves to servlet context attributes.

  • When embedded in Spring: attributes resolve to Spring beans.

  • When attached to a virtual machine, the context attributes has only a single instrumentation entry that is the java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation instance obtained when attaching to a virtual machine.

Example 6.3. Obtaining a Spring bean

def bean = context.attributes["TheBean"];


Now let's examine the InvocationContext that extends the CommandContext:

Example 6.4. The invocation context

/**
 * The invocation context provided to a command during the invocation phase.
 * It provides the various interactions that a command can perform with
 * its context during its invocation.
 *
 * @author <a href="mailto:julien.viet@exoplatform.com">Julien Viet</a>
 * @version $Revision$
 */
public interface InvocationContext<C, P> extends CommandContext {

  /**
   * Returns the term width in chars. When the value is not positive it means
   * the value could not be determined.
   *
   * @return the term width
   */
  int getWidth();

  /**
   * Returns a generic property, usually this property is resolved by the
   * shell client.
   *
   * @param propertyName the property name
   * @return the property value
   */
  String getProperty(String propertyName);

  /**
   * Display a message and read a line on the console. If no line can be read
   * then null is returned.
   *
   * @param msg the message to display before reading a line
   * @param echo wether or not the line read should be echoed when typing
   * @return the line read
   */
  String readLine(String msg, boolean echo);

  /**
   * Returns the writer for the output.
   *
   * @return the writer
   */
  ShellPrintWriter getWriter();

  /**
   * Returns true if the command is involved in a pipe operation and receives
   * a stream.
   *
   * @return true if the command is involved in a pipe
   */
  boolean isPiped();

  /**
   * Returns an iterator over the stream of consumed items.
   *
   * @return the consumed items
   * @throws IllegalStateException if the command is not involved in a
   *                               pipe operation
   */
  Iterable<C> consume() throws IllegalStateException;

  /**
   * Produce an item.
   *
   * @param product the item product
   */
  void produce(P product);

}


The PrintWriter object is the command output, it can be used also via the out property in Groovy scripts:

Example 6.5. Printing on the shell

context.writer.print("Hello"); (1) 
out.print("hello"); (2) 

1

Printing using the context writer

2

Printing using the out


The readLine method can be used to get interactive information from the user during the execution of a command.

Example 6.6. Reading on the console

def age = context.readLine("How old are you?", false);


Finally the isPiped, consume and produce methods are used when writing commands that exchange objects via the pipe mechanism.

Adding style

CRaSH adds since version 1.1 the support for colored text and text decoration. Each portion of text printed has three style attributes:

  • Decoration : bold, underline or blink, as the org.crsh.text.Decoration enum.

  • Foreground color.

  • Background color.

Available colors are grouped as the org.crsh.text.Color enum: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white.

Decoration and colors can be applied with overloaded print and println methods provided by the ShellPrinterWriter. This printer is available as the implicit out attribute or thanks to the context.getWriter() method.

Example 6.7. Decorating and coloring text

out.println("hello", red); (1) 
out.println("hello", red, blue); (2) 
out.println("hello", underline, red, blue); (3) 

1

Print hello in red color

2

Print hello in red with a red blue

3

Print hello in red underlined with a red blue


The combination of the decoration, background and foreground colors is a style represented by the org.crsh.text.Style object. Styles can be used like decoration and colors:

Example 6.8. Printing styled text

out.println("hello", style(red)); (1) 
out.println("hello", style(red, blue)); (2) 
out.println("hello", style(underline, red, blue)); (3) 

1

Print hello in red color

2

Print hello in red with a red blue

3

Print hello in red underlined with a red blue


When using the print methods, the style will be used for the currently printed object. It is possible to change the style permanently (until it is reset) using Groovy leftshift operator : <<

By default the << operator prints output on the console. The ShellPrintWriter overrides the operator to work with color, decoration and styles:

Example 6.9. Styling with the leftshift operator

out << red (1) 
out << underline (2) 
out << "hello" (3) 
out << reset; (4) 

1

Set red foreground color

2

Set underline

3

Print hello in underlined red

4

Reset style


Operators can also be combined on the same line providing a more compact syntax:

out << red << underline << "hello" << reset
out << style(underline, red, blue) << "hello" << reset

Note

Throughout the examples we have used decoration, color and styles. CRaSH automatically imports those classes so they can be used out of the box in any CRaSH command without requiring prior import.

Inter command API

In this section we study how a command can reuse existing commands, here is an example

Example 6.10. dbscript.groovy

jdbc.connect username:root, password:crash, "jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true"
jdbc.execute "create table derbyDB(num int, addr varchar(40))"
jdbc.execute "insert into derbyDB values (1956,'Webster St.')"
jdbc.execute "insert into derbyDB values (1910,'Union St.')"
jdbc.execute "select * from derbyDb"
jdbc.close


This script is written in Groovy and use Groovy DSL capabilities, let's study the first statement:

  • the jdbc.connect statement can be decomposed into two steps

    • the jdbc is resolved as the command itself

    • the connect invokes the connect command

  • the username and password are considered as command options

  • the SQL statement "jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true" is the main argument of the command

It is equivalent to the shell command:

% jdbc connect --username root --password crash jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true

The rest of the script is fairly easy to understand, here is the output of the script execution:

% dbscript
Connected to data base : jdbc:derby:memory:EmbeddedDB;create=true
Query executed successfully
Query executed successfully
Query executed successfully
NUM                  ADDR
1956                 Webster St.
1910                 Union St.
Connection closed

Drop me an email (see my @ on www.julienviet.com), any kind of help is welcome.