Configure the Devtools

This section covers the configuration options for the Devtools.

When the CMS runs in a docker container on a Windows based system, and the packages directory is mounted from the host into the container, changes to files in the packages directory are not propagated as inotify events, and therefore the default watcher implementation (WatchServiceWatcher) cannot be used. This setup requires the usage of the FileMonitorWatcher.

1 Activate Feature

The feature must be activated in the CMS configuration:

/Node/etc/conf.d/*.conf

$FEATURE["devtools"] = true;

After activating/deactivating the feature or changing other configuration settings, it is necessary to reload the configuration for the changes to take effect.

2 CMS Apache configuration

The CMS Apache must be able to serve static files from packages. This is done with the following lines in the configuration:

/Node/etc/apache/apache-vhost-include.conf

# devtools configuration
<Directory "/Node/node/content/packages">
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All

        <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
                Require all granted
        </IfModule>
        <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
                Order Allow,Deny
                Allow from all
        </IfModule>
</Directory>
AliasMatch ^/static/([^/]*)/files/(.*) /Node/node/content/packages/$1/files/$2
AliasMatch ^/internal/([^/]*)/files/(.*) /Node/node/content/packages/$1/files-internal/$2

New installations will already contain this setting, but installations that were updated to the new feature release require the configuration to be changed manually.

3 Watcher implementation

The automatic synchronization of files changed in the filesystem with the objects in the CMS is based on a mechanism to detect filesystem changes.

There are two different implementations of this mechanism.

3.1 WatchServiceWatcher (default)

This implementation listens to filesystem events (e.g. inotify on linux based systems). This implementation (which is the default) is best suited for installations, where the packages directory is located on a native filesystem or where the the packages directory is mounted using a technology which supports those filesystem events.

This watcher implementation can be activated with

/Node/etc/conf.d/*.conf

$DEVTOOLS["synchronizer"]["class"] = "com.gentics.contentnode.devtools.WatchServiceWatcher";

3.2 FileMonitorWatcher

This implementation uses polling to detect changes in the monitored directories and will work in all scenarios. However, it has the disadvantage to create some permament CPU load caused by the polling (as long as the devtools feature is activated).

This watcher implementation can be activated with

/Node/etc/conf.d/*.conf

$DEVTOOLS["synchronizer"]["class"] = "com.gentics.contentnode.devtools.FileMonitorWatcher";
$DEVTOOLS["synchronizer"]["interval"] = 100;

The setting $DEVTOOLS["synchronizer"]["interval"] defines the polling interval in milliseconds (default is 1000). Longer intervals produce less CPU load but cause a longer delay for the change detection. Shorter intervals allow for faster detection but increase the CPU load.