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I observed that there is no full guide for installing tomcat on OS X that will include setting it up to start at boot time.

Here is the quick guide:

  • install macports
    • suport port upgrade
    • sudo port upgrade outdated.
  • sudo port install tomcat6, or if you want other version check port list|grep tomcat
  • config is now at: /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf

  • startup script: /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/bin/tomcatctl

    cp /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf/tomcat-users.xml.sample /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf/tomcat-users.xml nano /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf/tomcat-users.xml

  • ... check article

But I'm missing the part on how to make it run as true service/daemon: at system startup and optionally to make it restart if it does crash.

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  • Why use MacPorts when they have official binaries available? I hate the reliance some Mac users have for MacPorts, especially when most MacPorts packages are out of date and thus you open yourself up to security holes. Commented Sep 22, 2010 at 12:38
  • Simon, this is required because macports is also a package manager so you'll get over a lot of problems using this way. Also you will be able to upgrade tomcat very easy. Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 14:18

3 Answers 3

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This is for installing tomcat as a daemon on port 8080 but enable also port 80 by using a firewall redirection. It was tested on Mac OS 10.6 but should work also with 10.5.

Edit /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf/server.xml and add proxyport="80" URIEncoding="UTF-8" inside <Connector .../>.

For forwarding port 80 to 8080 run this line and add it do /bin/catalina.sh:

sudo ipfw add 100 fwd 127.0.0.1,8080 tcp from any to any 80 in

Assign enough memory to the Java machine or you may be in trouble later. Inside /opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/conf/local.env

export JAVA_JVM_VERSION=CurrentJDK export JAVA_OPTS="-Xmx3000M -Xms3000M -Djava.awt.headless=true -Duser.timezone=UTC"

In my example I allocated ~3Gb or RAM but you can adapt this, anyway don't put less than 1GB if you are running hudson inside tomcat.

Running as a service

Run nano /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.tomcat.plist and paste the code below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Disabled</key> <false/> <key>Label</key> <string>org.apache.tomcat</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/bin/catalina.sh</string> <string>run</string> </array> <key>RunAtLoad</key> <true/> </dict> </plist>

Check that launchd detected you new daemon, if not reboot :(

launchctl list|grep tomcat

Start tomcat manually.

launchctl start org.apache.tomcat

If the status is something else than -, you have a problem and you should investigate it: launchctl log level debug and check /var/log/system.log.

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    Could be me as I'm new to Mac (OS X 10.8.2) but I had to do: sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.tomcat.plist to get it to start Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 21:59
  • I haven't had it working until I made the file's owner root. So, when editing the file type sudo nano /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.tomcat.plist Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 19:28
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You need to register tomcat as an item that needs to be executed on startup. On Mac OS, this is handled by launchd (http://developer.apple.com/macosx/launchd.html). I don't know if launchd supports auto restarting, but otherwise you should have a look at something like supervisord (http://supervisord.org/).

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  • Yes, launchd has a keepalive option, both as yes/no and with four optional conditions. Commented May 26, 2011 at 20:47
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For Snow Leopard launch on startup I created a plist file in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ The plist file will look like this (below, amend to match your directories). You can start/stop the service for testing by issuing "launchctl load org.macports.tomcat6.plist" or "launchctl unload org.macports.tomcat6.plist". Once you have it working reboot to prove the autostart at boot.

sh-3.2# more org.macports.tomcat6.plist <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" > <plist version='1.0'> <dict> <key>Label</key><string>org.macports.tomcat6</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/opt/local/bin/daemondo</string> <string>--label=tomcat6</string> <string>--start-cmd</string> <string>/opt/local/bin/tomcatctl</string> <string>start</string> <string>;</string> <string>--pid=fileclean</string> <string>--pidfile</string> <string>/opt/local/share/java/tomcat6/logs/tomcat6.pid</string> </array> <key>Debug</key><false/> <key>Disabled</key><false/> <key>OnDemand</key><false/> <key>RunAtLoad></key><true/> </dict> </plist>
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