Pharo (VM) not able to run as a (headless) Windows service anymore

[astares]

The VM for Squeak (and initial Pharo) was able to run headless as a Windows Service.
This is not only useful but often necessary for deploying Pharo (web) services on Windows
platforms. Running as a service allows for easy maintenance (start, stop, backup services,
remote administration, ...).

Usually one would see the Services running on a machine in the Windows Service manager:

• click on Windows Start and enter "services.msc"
  (http://www.thewindowsclub.com/open-windows-services)

Unfortunately with current Pharo this deployment option. The "-service" option on the command
line of the Pharo VM as described in

http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/105

seems lost. Maybe also the others like "-log", "-memory" and "-browserWindow"

Scenario to reproduce:

1. Download latest Pharo Windows VM version
   ===========================================
   1.1. Download http://files.pharo.org/get-files/70/pharo-win-latest.zip
   1.2. Extract contents to c:\myservice

2. Download latest Pharo image version
   ======================================
   2.1. Download http://files.pharo.org/get-files/70/pharo.zip
   2.2. Extract contents to c:\myservice
   at the time of this writing this was
   - Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.image
   - Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.sources
   - Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.changes

3. Start Pharo image the first time
   ===================================
   3.1. Drag the "Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.image" to the VM executable "Pharo.exe" to start Pharo
   3.2. Open a Playground and enter

   (ZnServer startDefaultOn: 9091)
   onRequestRespond: [:request | ZnResponse ok: (ZnEntity text: Time now asString )]

3.3. Point your browser to http://localhost:9091/ to verify that the server is running.
Hit refresh in the brower to see the time change.

3.4. Click on "Save and Quit" in the world menu to save and close the image

4. Start Pharo image a second time
   ===================================
   4.1. Drag the "Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.image" to the VM executable "Pharo.exe" to start Pharo
   4.2. Point your browser to http://localhost:9091/ to verify that the server is running.
   Hit refresh in the brower to see the time change.
   4.3. Close the image using "Quit" from the world menu

This step is just to verify that the image starts/runs the webserver when it is started.

5. Try to install as a Windows service
   ======================================
   5.1. On Windows click "Start" and enter cmd.exe to open the Windows DOS Console
   5.2. Change the directory using "cd c:\myservice"
   5.3. Run

      Pharo.exe -service "PharoService" c:\myservice\Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.image
   

   on the command line. This brings you into an: "Command line handler failed 1"
   error.

I guess this is due to the restructuring of Pharo command line handling that this
parameter is not passed to the VM.

But also the command line with -headless

    Pharo.exe -headless -service "PharoService" c:\myservice\Pharo7.0-32bit-52a28a8.image

does not work and install Pharo in the Windows Service manager (services.msc).

Just to confirm that it was once working in Squeak:

One can download and take the old Squeak Swiki Server and run it with the "-service" option
easily: http://wiki.squeak.org/swiki/uploads/10/Winterlong.zip without any problem as Windows service.

[astares]

Issue moved from https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/20908/Pharo-VM-not-able-to-run-as-a-headless-Windows-service-anymore to github

[stale]

To limit bug bankruptcy (see https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2012/07/09/software-inventory/) this issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any activity in 6 months. It will be closed in 1 month if no further activity occurs. If this issue remains important to you, please comment to reactivate the issue. Thank you for your contributions.

Joel on Software

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[astares]

Still necessary and unsolved

[guillep]

I've moved this issue to https://github.com/pharo-project/opensmalltalk-vm

Thanks!

GitHub

pharo-project/opensmalltalk-vm

This is the VM used by Pharo. Contribute to pharo-project/opensmalltalk-vm development by creating an account on GitHub.