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• Most plugins are Geronimo modules, describing a classloader and services and possibly containing classes and resources.
• Plugins also contain descriptive information and include additional instructions on how the plugin fits into a server.
• Information about multiple plugins can be collected into a plugin catalog, often located in a maven repository
• A plugin repository is basically a plugin catalog together with a maven-structured repository containing plugins.
• Plugins can be installed from a plugin repository into an existing geronimo server using gshell commands or the admin console.
• Plugin metadata for an existing plugin in a geronimo server can be edited (to some extent) in the admin console.
• Maven can be used to assemble a new server out of plugins in a maven repository (not requiring a plugin catalog)
• A new server containing a specified set of plugins can be extracted from an existing server using a gshell command or , the admin console, or the Geronimo Eclipse Plugin.
• The dependency system assures that the resulting server has all needed plugins to operate.

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Just as with installing plugins, this can be done from the admin console or from gshell, gshell, and the Geronimo Eclipse Plugin. In the admin console you specify the groupId and artifactId of the server you want, the version, and the archive type and then select the plugins you want installed. The server will be assembled in var/temp.

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# assembles a server containing roller-jetty from the geronimo-framework server.
# run using ./bin/gsh < roller-jetty-commands
deploy/list-plugins -u system -w manager -r file:/Users/david/.m2/repository/\
 org.apache.geronimo.plugins/roller-jetty/0.0.2-SNAPSHOT/car\
 org.apache.geronimo.plugins/roller-themes/0.0.2-SNAPSHOT/car

deploy/assemble -g org.apache.geronimo.assemblies -a geronimo-roller-jetty -v 1.0-SNAPSHOT\
 org.apache.geronimo.assemblies/geronimo-boilerplate-minimal/2.1-SNAPSHOT/jar\
 org.apache.geronimo.plugins/roller-jetty/0.0.2-SNAPSHOT/car\
 org.apache.geronimo.plugins/roller-themes/0.0.2-SNAPSHOT/car

The use of the GEP to assemble a custom server is very similar to the other methods. While the Geronimo server is running, use the server's popup menu to launch the Custom Server Assembly dialog. Specify the artifact name, group, version, archive type, path (relative to the running server), and plugins that you want installed. Once again, remember that the geronimo-boilerplate-minimal plugin must be included to get a working server.

Assembling a server using maven.

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