How to use Google App Engine Java with Maven

We all want to use Google App Engine with Maven, but Google stopped deploying GAE/J releases to their Maven repository for some reason. This article explains how to use Maven with App Engine. It also explains how to setup a local Maven repository. These instructions assume you’re using Linux.

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OpenID, Google App Engine, and Yahoo

If you want to use OpenID with Google App Engine / Java, try this library: dyuproject

It includes a standard Servlet Filter that restricts access to the URL prefix you specify. It also uses an internal HTTP library that is GAE compliant.

I was able to get it working with my app in about 30 minutes. For Google that is. Yahoo was a different matter.

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Don’t make a mockery of testing

If you’ve worked on a Java team that valued test automation, you’ve probably been exposed to EasyMock or JMock.

While well intended, these tools imply that teams should focus their testing efforts on granular unit tests that provide maximum code coverage. Often these teams do this at the expense of integration tests. Since time is always finite, we suggest you spend the majority of your testing time on integration tests. Only after you’ve exhausted all integration testing possibilities should you be tempted to use mocks.

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FTP passive mode and Java Sockets

Okay, my first blog entry. Be gentle…

I just spent most of the day diagnosing this problem with an FTP server and a Java application, and I thought maybe I could save someone the effort some time. (more…)

Replacing gcj on Fedora

Due to licensing issues, Linux distros can’t distribute Sun’s JDK. Instead they use gcj, which in my experience is utterly broken. I just provisioned a new Fedora 7 VPS server today, and as part of getting tomcat and ant installed I needed to replace gcj with Sun’s JDK. Here’s the steps:
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