Deploying to sourceforge.net

This sf.net announcement indicates that the new hostname for project web file management has changed. The new hostname for file management is: web.sourceforge.net and the new accepted methods are: SFTP, SCP, rsync over SSH. Unfortunately web.sourceforge.net also has a restricted shell environment and does not allow remote commands to be executed.

In addition shell access to shell.sourceforge.net now requires the creation of a shell before it can be accessed.

Both of these mean that if you attempt to deploy your site without following these steps you will get an error.

Quick Start

  • Create a shell on shell.sourceforge.net with your username and project group
    ssh -t <username>,<project name>@shell.sf.net create
  • Use shell.sourceforge.net (instead of web.sourceforge.net) in you site URL
      ...
  <distributionManagement>
    ...
    <site>
      <id>your_project.sf.net</id>
      <url>scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/y/yo/your_project/htdocs</url>
    </site>
  </distributionManagement>
  • Run mvn site:deploy
  • Verify that you have a working web site by opening a browser to http://your_project.sf.net

Detailed Instructions with Examples

The following examples will use the qifcon project and the user barrie. Substitute these with your own project name and user name.

Create a shell on shell.sourceforge.net with your username and project group

$ ssh -t barrie,qifcon@shell.sf.net create
barrie,qifcon@shell.sf.net's password:

Requesting a new shell for "barrie" and waiting for it to start.
queued... creating... starting...

This is an interactive shell created for user barrie,qifcon.
Use the "timeleft" command to see how much time remains before shutdown.
Use the "shutdown" command to destroy the shell before the time limit.
For path information and login help, type "sf-help".

-bash-3.2$

Use shell.sourceforge.net (instead of web.sourceforge.net) in you site URL

In the project's pom.xml:

  ...
  <distributionManagement>
    ...
    <site>
      <id>qifcon.sf.net</id>
      <url>scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs</url>
    </site>
  </distributionManagement>
  ...

Run mvn site:deploy

C:\ide\Finance\qifcon\site>mvn site:deploy
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'site'.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building QifCon
[INFO]    task-segment: [site:deploy]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [site:deploy]
Using private key: C:\Projects\putty\barrie@sourceforge-net.openssh
scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs - Session: Opened
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/.
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/.
Executing command: scp -t /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/./wagon51463.zip
Uploading: ./wagon51463.zip to scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs

########################
Transfer finished. 95979 bytes copied in 1.812 seconds
Executing command: cd /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/.; unzip -q -o wagon51463.zip; rm -f wagon51463.zip
Executing command: chmod -Rf g+w,a+rX /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs
scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs - Session: Disconnecting
scp://shell.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs - Session: Disconnected
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 30 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Sat Nov 08 08:09:40 CST 2008
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/11M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Verify you have a working web site

Open a browser to http://qifcon.sf.net.

Troubleshooting

Trying to deploy to web.sourceforge.net

The accepted methods for deploying to web.sourceforge.net are: SFTP, SCP, rsync over SSH.

This will mean that the zipped archive created by Wagon can be uploaded, but the commands that Wagon uses to create directories, unzip and chmod files will fail silently.

There are two types of failures:

  1. No such file or directory

    This will occur if you are deploying into a subdirectory that does not yet exist. The cause is that the mkdir command has failed silently.

    An example of this error:

    C:\ide\Finance\qifcon\site>mvn site:deploy
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'site'.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building QifCon
[INFO]    task-segment: [site:deploy]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [site:deploy]
Using private key: C:\Projects\putty\barrie@sourceforge-net.openssh
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Opened
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/.
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/.
Executing command: scp -t /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/./wagon12736.zip
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Disconnecting
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Disconnected
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Error uploading site

Embedded error: SCP terminated with error: 'scp: /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/./wagon12736.zip: No such file or directory'
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] For more information, run Maven with the -e switch
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 15 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Sat Nov 08 07:27:34 CST 2008
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/11M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2. Unable to unzip the zip file created by Wagon

    If the directory exists then the Wagon zip file can be uploaded and site:deploy will appear to succeed, but the web site will not work since the Wagon zip file can not be unzipped.

    C:\ide\Finance\qifcon\site>mvn site:deploy
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'site'.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building QifCon
[INFO]    task-segment: [site:deploy]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [site:deploy]
Using private key: C:\Projects\putty\barrie@sourceforge-net.openssh
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Opened
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/.
Executing command: mkdir -p /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/.
Executing command: scp -t /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/./wagon21889.zip
Uploading: ./wagon21889.zip to scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site

########################
Transfer finished. 95979 bytes copied in 1.872 seconds
Executing command: cd /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site/.; unzip -q -o wagon21889.zip; rm -f wagon21889.zip
Executing command: chmod -Rf g+w,a+rX /home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Disconnecting
scp://web.sourceforge.net/home/groups/q/qi/qifcon/htdocs/site - Session: Disconnected
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 18 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Sat Nov 08 07:51:04 CST 2008
[INFO] Final Memory: 6M/11M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

No shell created error

If you try to run ssh without first creating a shell you will get the following error:

$ ssh barrie,qifcon@shell.sf.net
barrie,qifcon@shell.sf.net's password:
Logging in to your interactive shell...

You don't have an active shell at this time.  For basic file transfers and
management, use web.sourceforge.net -- it allows rsync, sftp, and scp access.

If you would like to create a shell, use ssh to login using a USER,PROJECT
username with the "create" command.  If you tell ssh to allocate a tty
(e.g. using -t), an interactive shell will be opened when the create is
done.  Otherwise, the create command will exit when the shell becomes
ready for use.  An example create that enters the shell when ready:

    ssh -t USER,PROJECT@shell.sourceforge.net create

Connection to shell.sf.net closed.