How do I edit catalina.bat to make remote debugging work ?

[tangara goh]

Hi experts,

After failing to use the normal debugging method to debug my web project which consists of jsp and servlet etc, I have decided to try remote debugging.

The thing is that I am not familiar with remote debugging.

I have tomcat v 9.0.4 x64 version for Windows 10 'embedded' inside Eclipse.

After doing some research on the internet, I realised I have to add in this line as per https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3835612/remote-debugging-tomcat-with-eclipse

ATALINA_OPTS="-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=8000,server=y,suspend=n"

However, when I open up my catalina.bat it has very strange 'language' such that I am not sure how to go about adding the said line.

Here's how my catalina.bat looks like :

@echo off
rem Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
rem contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
rem this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
rem The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
rem (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
rem the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
rem
rem     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
rem
rem Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
rem distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
rem WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
rem See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
rem limitations under the License.

rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
rem Start/Stop Script for the CATALINA Server
rem
rem Environment Variable Prerequisites
rem
rem   Do not set the variables in this script. Instead put them into a script
rem   setenv.bat in CATALINA_BASE/bin to keep your customizations separate.
rem
rem   WHEN RUNNING TOMCAT AS A WINDOWS SERVICE:
rem   Note that the environment variables that affect the behavior of this
rem   script will have no effect at all on Windows Services. As such, any
rem   local customizations made in a CATALINA_BASE/bin/setenv.bat script
rem   will also have no effect on Tomcat when launched as a Windows Service.
rem   The configuration that controls Windows Services is stored in the Windows
rem   Registry, and is most conveniently maintained using the "tomcatXw.exe"
rem   maintenance utility, where "X" is the major version of Tomcat you are
rem   running.
rem
rem   CATALINA_HOME   May point at your Catalina "build" directory.
rem
rem   CATALINA_BASE   (Optional) Base directory for resolving dynamic portions
rem                   of a Catalina installation.  If not present, resolves to
rem                   the same directory that CATALINA_HOME points to.
rem
rem   CATALINA_OPTS   (Optional) Java runtime options used when the "start",
rem                   "run" or "debug" command is executed.
rem                   Include here and not in JAVA_OPTS all options, that should
rem                   only be used by Tomcat itself, not by the stop process,
rem                   the version command etc.
rem                   Examples are heap size, GC logging, JMX ports etc.
rem
rem   CATALINA_TMPDIR (Optional) Directory path location of temporary directory
rem                   the JVM should use (java.io.tmpdir).  Defaults to
rem                   %CATALINA_BASE%\temp.
rem
rem   JAVA_HOME       Must point at your Java Development Kit installation.
rem                   Required to run the with the "debug" argument.
rem
rem   JRE_HOME        Must point at your Java Runtime installation.
rem                   Defaults to JAVA_HOME if empty. If JRE_HOME and JAVA_HOME
rem                   are both set, JRE_HOME is used.
rem
rem   JAVA_OPTS       (Optional) Java runtime options used when any command
rem                   is executed.
rem                   Include here and not in CATALINA_OPTS all options, that
rem                   should be used by Tomcat and also by the stop process,
rem                   the version command etc.
rem                   Most options should go into CATALINA_OPTS.
rem
rem   JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS (Optional) Lists of of semi-colon separated directories
rem                   containing some jars in order to allow replacement of APIs
rem                   created outside of the JCP (i.e. DOM and SAX from W3C).
rem                   It can also be used to update the XML parser implementation.
rem                   This is only supported for Java <= 8.
rem                   Defaults to $CATALINA_HOME/endorsed.
rem
rem   JPDA_TRANSPORT  (Optional) JPDA transport used when the "jpda start"
rem                   command is executed. The default is "dt_socket".
rem
rem   JPDA_ADDRESS    (Optional) Java runtime options used when the "jpda start"
rem                   command is executed. The default is localhost:8000.
rem
rem   JPDA_SUSPEND    (Optional) Java runtime options used when the "jpda start"
rem                   command is executed. Specifies whether JVM should suspend
rem                   execution immediately after startup. Default is "n".
rem
rem   JPDA_OPTS       (Optional) Java runtime options used when the "jpda start"
rem                   command is executed. If used, JPDA_TRANSPORT, JPDA_ADDRESS,
rem                   and JPDA_SUSPEND are ignored. Thus, all required jpda
rem                   options MUST be specified. The default is:
rem
rem                   -agentlib:jdwp=transport=%JPDA_TRANSPORT%,
rem                       address=%JPDA_ADDRESS%,server=y,suspend=%JPDA_SUSPEND%
rem
rem   JSSE_OPTS       (Optional) Java runtime options used to control the TLS
rem                   implementation when JSSE is used. Default is:
rem                   "-Djdk.tls.ephemeralDHKeySize=2048"
rem
rem   LOGGING_CONFIG  (Optional) Override Tomcat's logging config file
rem                   Example (all one line)
rem                   set LOGGING_CONFIG="-Djava.util.logging.config.file=%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\logging.properties"
rem
rem   LOGGING_MANAGER (Optional) Override Tomcat's logging manager
rem                   Example (all one line)
rem                   set LOGGING_MANAGER="-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager"
rem
rem   TITLE           (Optional) Specify the title of Tomcat window. The default
rem                   TITLE is Tomcat if it's not specified.
rem                   Example (all one line)
rem                   set TITLE=Tomcat.Cluster#1.Server#1 [%DATE% %TIME%]
rem ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

setlocal

rem Suppress Terminate batch job on CTRL+C
if not ""%1"" == ""run"" goto mainEntry
if "%TEMP%" == "" goto mainEntry
if exist "%TEMP%\%~nx0.run" goto mainEntry
echo Y>"%TEMP%\%~nx0.run"
if not exist "%TEMP%\%~nx0.run" goto mainEntry
echo Y>"%TEMP%\%~nx0.Y"
call "%~f0" %* <"%TEMP%\%~nx0.Y"
rem Use provided errorlevel
set RETVAL=%ERRORLEVEL%
del /Q "%TEMP%\%~nx0.Y" >NUL 2>&1
exit /B %RETVAL%
:mainEntry
del /Q "%TEMP%\%~nx0.run" >NUL 2>&1

rem Guess CATALINA_HOME if not defined
set "CURRENT_DIR=%cd%"
if not "%CATALINA_HOME%" == "" goto gotHome
set "CATALINA_HOME=%CURRENT_DIR%"
if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\catalina.bat" goto okHome
cd ..
set "CATALINA_HOME=%cd%"
cd "%CURRENT_DIR%"
:gotHome

if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\catalina.bat" goto okHome
echo The CATALINA_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly
echo This environment variable is needed to run this program
goto end
:okHome

rem Copy CATALINA_BASE from CATALINA_HOME if not defined
if not "%CATALINA_BASE%" == "" goto gotBase
set "CATALINA_BASE=%CATALINA_HOME%"
:gotBase

rem Ensure that neither CATALINA_HOME nor CATALINA_BASE contains a semi-colon
rem as this is used as the separator in the classpath and Java provides no
rem mechanism for escaping if the same character appears in the path. Check this
rem by replacing all occurrences of ';' with '' and checking that neither
rem CATALINA_HOME nor CATALINA_BASE have changed
if "%CATALINA_HOME%" == "%CATALINA_HOME:;=%" goto homeNoSemicolon
echo Using CATALINA_HOME:   "%CATALINA_HOME%"
echo Unable to start as CATALINA_HOME contains a semicolon (;) character
goto end
:homeNoSemicolon

if "%CATALINA_BASE%" == "%CATALINA_BASE:;=%" goto baseNoSemicolon
echo Using CATALINA_BASE:   "%CATALINA_BASE%"
echo Unable to start as CATALINA_BASE contains a semicolon (;) character
goto end
:baseNoSemicolon

rem Ensure that any user defined CLASSPATH variables are not used on startup,
rem but allow them to be specified in setenv.bat, in rare case when it is needed.
set CLASSPATH=

rem Get standard environment variables
if not exist "%CATALINA_BASE%\bin\setenv.bat" goto checkSetenvHome
call "%CATALINA_BASE%\bin\setenv.bat"
goto setenvDone
:checkSetenvHome
if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\setenv.bat" call "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\setenv.bat"
:setenvDone

rem Get standard Java environment variables
if exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\setclasspath.bat" goto okSetclasspath
echo Cannot find "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\setclasspath.bat"
echo This file is needed to run this program
goto end
:okSetclasspath
call "%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\setclasspath.bat" %1
if errorlevel 1 goto end

rem Add on extra jar file to CLASSPATH
rem Note that there are no quotes as we do not want to introduce random
rem quotes into the CLASSPATH
if "%CLASSPATH%" == "" goto emptyClasspath
set "CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;"
:emptyClasspath
set "CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\bootstrap.jar"

if not "%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" == "" goto gotTmpdir
set "CATALINA_TMPDIR=%CATALINA_BASE%\temp"
:gotTmpdir

rem Add tomcat-juli.jar to classpath
rem tomcat-juli.jar can be over-ridden per instance
if not exist "%CATALINA_BASE%\bin\tomcat-juli.jar" goto juliClasspathHome
set "CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;%CATALINA_BASE%\bin\tomcat-juli.jar"
goto juliClasspathDone
:juliClasspathHome
set "CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\tomcat-juli.jar"
:juliClasspathDone

if not "%JSSE_OPTS%" == "" goto gotJsseOpts
set JSSE_OPTS="-Djdk.tls.ephemeralDHKeySize=2048"
:gotJsseOpts
set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% %JSSE_OPTS%"

rem Register custom URL handlers
rem Do this here so custom URL handles (specifically 'war:...') can be used in the security policy
set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=org.apache.catalina.webresources"

if not "%LOGGING_CONFIG%" == "" goto noJuliConfig
set LOGGING_CONFIG=-Dnop
if not exist "%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\logging.properties" goto noJuliConfig
set LOGGING_CONFIG=-Djava.util.logging.config.file="%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\logging.properties"
:noJuliConfig

if not "%LOGGING_MANAGER%" == "" goto noJuliManager
set LOGGING_MANAGER=-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager
:noJuliManager

rem Configure JAVA 9 specific start-up parameters
set "JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS=%JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS% --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED"
set "JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS=%JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS% --add-opens=java.rmi/sun.rmi.transport=ALL-UNNAMED"

rem Java 9 no longer supports the java.endorsed.dirs
rem system property. Only try to use it if
rem JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS was explicitly set
rem or CATALINA_HOME/endorsed exists.
set ENDORSED_PROP=ignore.endorsed.dirs
if "%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" == "" goto noEndorsedVar
set ENDORSED_PROP=java.endorsed.dirs
goto doneEndorsed
:noEndorsedVar
if not exist "%CATALINA_HOME%\endorsed" goto doneEndorsed
set ENDORSED_PROP=java.endorsed.dirs
:doneEndorsed

rem ----- Execute The Requested Command ---------------------------------------

echo Using CATALINA_BASE:   "%CATALINA_BASE%"
echo Using CATALINA_HOME:   "%CATALINA_HOME%"
echo Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: "%CATALINA_TMPDIR%"
if ""%1"" == ""debug"" goto use_jdk
echo Using JRE_HOME:        "%JRE_HOME%"
goto java_dir_displayed
:use_jdk
echo Using JAVA_HOME:       "%JAVA_HOME%"
:java_dir_displayed
echo Using CLASSPATH:       "%CLASSPATH%"

set _EXECJAVA=%_RUNJAVA%
set MAINCLASS=org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
set ACTION=start
set SECURITY_POLICY_FILE=
set DEBUG_OPTS=
set JPDA=

if not ""%1"" == ""jpda"" goto noJpda
set JPDA=jpda
if not "%JPDA_TRANSPORT%" == "" goto gotJpdaTransport
set JPDA_TRANSPORT=dt_socket
:gotJpdaTransport
if not "%JPDA_ADDRESS%" == "" goto gotJpdaAddress
set JPDA_ADDRESS=localhost:8000
:gotJpdaAddress
if not "%JPDA_SUSPEND%" == "" goto gotJpdaSuspend
set JPDA_SUSPEND=n
:gotJpdaSuspend
if not "%JPDA_OPTS%" == "" goto gotJpdaOpts
set JPDA_OPTS=-agentlib:jdwp=transport=%JPDA_TRANSPORT%,address=%JPDA_ADDRESS%,server=y,suspend=%JPDA_SUSPEND%
:gotJpdaOpts
shift
:noJpda

if ""%1"" == ""debug"" goto doDebug
if ""%1"" == ""run"" goto doRun
if ""%1"" == ""start"" goto doStart
if ""%1"" == ""stop"" goto doStop
if ""%1"" == ""configtest"" goto doConfigTest
if ""%1"" == ""version"" goto doVersion

echo Usage:  catalina ( commands ... )
echo commands:
echo   debug             Start Catalina in a debugger
echo   debug -security   Debug Catalina with a security manager
echo   jpda start        Start Catalina under JPDA debugger
echo   run               Start Catalina in the current window
echo   run -security     Start in the current window with security manager
echo   start             Start Catalina in a separate window
echo   start -security   Start in a separate window with security manager
echo   stop              Stop Catalina
echo   configtest        Run a basic syntax check on server.xml
echo   version           What version of tomcat are you running?
goto end

:doDebug
shift
set _EXECJAVA=%_RUNJDB%
set DEBUG_OPTS=-sourcepath "%CATALINA_HOME%\..\..\java"
if not ""%1"" == ""-security"" goto execCmd
shift
echo Using Security Manager
set "SECURITY_POLICY_FILE=%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\catalina.policy"
goto execCmd

:doRun
shift
if not ""%1"" == ""-security"" goto execCmd
shift
echo Using Security Manager
set "SECURITY_POLICY_FILE=%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\catalina.policy"
goto execCmd

:doStart
shift
if "%TITLE%" == "" set TITLE=Tomcat
set _EXECJAVA=start "%TITLE%" %_RUNJAVA%
if not ""%1"" == ""-security"" goto execCmd
shift
echo Using Security Manager
set "SECURITY_POLICY_FILE=%CATALINA_BASE%\conf\catalina.policy"
goto execCmd

:doStop
shift
set ACTION=stop
set CATALINA_OPTS=
goto execCmd

:doConfigTest
shift
set ACTION=configtest
set CATALINA_OPTS=
goto execCmd

:doVersion
%_EXECJAVA% -classpath "%CATALINA_HOME%\lib\catalina.jar" org.apache.catalina.util.ServerInfo
goto end


:execCmd
rem Get remaining unshifted command line arguments and save them in the
set CMD_LINE_ARGS=
:setArgs
if ""%1""=="""" goto doneSetArgs
set CMD_LINE_ARGS=%CMD_LINE_ARGS% %1
shift
goto setArgs
:doneSetArgs

rem Execute Java with the applicable properties
if not "%JPDA%" == "" goto doJpda
if not "%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" == "" goto doSecurity
%_EXECJAVA% %LOGGING_CONFIG% %LOGGING_MANAGER% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -D%ENDORSED_PROP%="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doSecurity
%_EXECJAVA% %LOGGING_CONFIG% %LOGGING_MANAGER% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -D%ENDORSED_PROP%="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=="%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doJpda
if not "%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" == "" goto doSecurityJpda
%_EXECJAVA% %LOGGING_CONFIG% %LOGGING_MANAGER% %JAVA_OPTS% %JPDA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -D%ENDORSED_PROP%="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doSecurityJpda
%_EXECJAVA% %LOGGING_CONFIG% %LOGGING_MANAGER% %JAVA_OPTS% %JPDA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -D%ENDORSED_PROP%="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=="%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end

:end
 

I hope someone can tell me what should I do now in order to add in the line and anything I should be aware of in order to make my debugger works...

It's been 2 months already...I think will it take me forever or the things are forcing me to give up ...

[Tim Moores]

That's not "strange language"; it's a Windows batch file. YOu probably don't need to change that at all, you just need to start it with "catalina.bat jpda start" instead of "catalina.bat start". I don't use the Eclipse integration, so can't say how that interacts, but I'd think that Eclipse has options to run Tomcat in debug (a.k.a. jpda) mode. If it doesn't, run Tomcat independently of Eclipse (which is what I advise anyway).

[Tim Holloway]

To reinforce what Tim Moores said, you don't have to change anything in the catalina.bat file. Just launch it with the "jpda start" command options.

You can override what port and other options JPDA will use by setting the appropriate environment variables, but usually you will not want to do that.

In Eclipse, create a Remote Debugging profile off the run/debug menu and set the target port and hostname to point to the instance of Tomcat running under JPDA. The default port is 8000.

Don't set any debugging options in the CATALINA_OPTS or setenv.bat (if you're using one). Everything you need is in the JPDA script options.

You have the option to start Tomcat in a paused state so that the debugger can connect before Tomcat starts (using the debugger resume command), or have Tomcat start normally and connect on the fly. Unless you need to debug stuff that's in initialization code, it's usually easier to leave it unpaused, but that's up to you.