So I downloaded JBoss source and stepped through the deployer code, since there isn't much documentation to look at.

Figures that you need to have a deployment-plan.xml file packed in a jar file and passed to the distribute method.

I got a bit further but not much. Now, the issue I'm running into is that JBoss is throwing a file not found exception when clearly that file exists on the filesystem (it is a file that the JBoss deployer dynamically creates).

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: Operation Distribute failed on target org.jboss.deployment.spi.JMXTarget@1050e1f
javax.management.MBeanException
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.handleInvocationExceptions(ReflectedDispatcher.java:180)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:163)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:86)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor86.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.InvokerAdaptorService.invoke(InvokerAdaptorService.java:266)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor80.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.AbstractInterceptor.invoke(AbstractInterceptor.java:133)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.invoke(ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.java:142)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPProxyFactory.invoke(JRMPProxyFactory.java:179)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor79.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:86)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPInvoker$MBeanServerAction.invoke(JRMPInvoker.java:819)
at org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPInvoker.invoke(JRMPInvoker.java:420)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor78.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(UnicastServerRef.java:294)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Transport.java:153)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Transport.java:149)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(TCPTransport.java:466)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(TCPTransport.java:707)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: E:\Temp\WTemp\sdesai\HelloSGD
at org.jboss.net.protocol.file.FileURLConnection.connect(FileURLConnection.java:94)
at org.jboss.net.protocol.file.FileURLConnection.getInputStream(FileURLConnection.java:103)
at org.jboss.deployment.services.DeploymentManagerService.deploy(DeploymentManagerService.java:213)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
... 40 more

at JBossManage.waitForTask(JBossManage.java:129)
at JBossManage.main(JBossManage.java:57)

On a hunch, I tried putting this file on the remote machine's filesystem and everything worked OK.

So I'm wondering whether this is a bug or I need to add an environment variable/toggle a switch saying that i'm on a machine different from the one running the jboss server and connecting to it remotely.

Can someone please help? I'm stuck :-(

Thanks.

Are you talking about org.jboss.deployers.spi.deployment.MainDeployer? This appears to be a JBoss 5 API. I'm on 4.0.5 (upgrading the version is not in my hands...)

But really, if JBoss says they support JSR88, then it should be a proper implementation. The impression I get from the code is that it is except I can't get it to work thanks to complete lack of documentation or samples.