Overview Description The Java backend is a Python XML-RPC service, which provides - in tandem with ECSpooler - automatic testing of Java programs. Therefore the backend compares the output of a program with the output of a model solution for a set of test data. Prerequisites * A UNIX or UNIX-like operating system, e.g., NetBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, or Linux. Java backend does run on Windows (with some restrictions), but this is neither supported nor recommended. * "Python":http://python.org/ * "Java":http://java.sun.com/ version 1.5 or higher * "ECSpooler":http://wdok.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/software/ecspooler * ECSpooler is primarily intended to be used via the "ECAutoAssessmentBox":http://plone.org/products/ecautoassessmentbox Plone product. So you will normally have a Plone installation with ECAutoAssessmentBox. Installation * Unzip this archive under the 'backends' directory of your ECSpooler installation (for example '/opt/ESpooler/backends/'). * Adjust JAVA_HOME, JVM_HOME and PATH variables in 'backends/java/javac.sh' to your system environemnt. * Adjust JAVA_HOME, JVM_HOME and PATH variables in 'backends/java/java.sh' to your system environemnt. Security When executing unknown code, you have to take security precautions, e.g., by using chroot, jails, or systrace. These mechanisms are, however, system-dependent, so we cannot give detailed installation instructions. If you are using "systrace":http://www.systrace.org/, adjust the shell scripts 'backends/java/javac' and 'backends/java/java+systrace' to your system environment and also edit the variables *compiler* and *interpreter* in 'backends/java/config.py' Please be aware of the risks if you are *not* able to deal with the configuration issues. Quick Start After installation first start ECSpooler (see the ECSpooler documentation for details). Then you should be able to start the Java backend using the following command (you may have to specify the path):: backendctl -u root -p bazquux Java start If you run this command as root, the process will be started as user "nobody". Once the backend is running, check the status of the backend using:: spoolerctl -u root -p bazquux status and get a response similar to:: {'queue': 0, 'backends': ['java'], 'pid': 26425, 'results': 0} For administrative tasks such as starting/stopping backends authentication is required. Therefore ECSpooler ships with a password file ('etc/passwd') containing a user root with default password "bazquux". Testing a Java program with the Java backend requires a model solution and a set of test data, e.g., * Model solution:: public class Test { public int max3(int a, int b, int c) { return Math.max(a, Math.max(b, c)); } } * Test data (one test call per line):: new Test().max3(1, 2, 3) new Test().max3(1, 3, 2) new Test().max3(3, 2, 1) new Test().max3(1, 2, 1) The Java backend currently only supports exact matches, meaning that the output of a student's submission and the output of the model solution must be equal for the same testdata. Support For questions and discussions about backends, please join the "eduComponents mailing list":https://listserv.uni-magdeburg.de/mailman/listinfo/educomponents. Credits The Java backend was written by "Mario Amelung":mailto:mario.amelung@gmx.de. License The Java backend is licensed under the "GPL":http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license. Copyright © 2007-2011 Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg The Java backend is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. The Java backend is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with ECSpooler; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA