STAND-126: Improve Windows Compatibility and Safe Data Directory Reuse for Standalone 3.x

[Muta-Jonathan]

See https://openmrs.atlassian.net/browse/STAND-126

Description

This PR improves Windows support for the OpenMRS Standalone launcher by addressing issues related to MariaDB startup and file system behavior, particularly around data directory handling and platform-specific constraints.

It addresses On Windows, MariaDB startup fails with:
ERROR : Data directory ... is not empty. Only new or empty existing directories are accepted for --datadir

ScreenShots on Windows

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[Muta-Jonathan]

@dkayiwa still trying this on windows gonna update to draft after the CI Tests but at now its not ready for review

[Muta-Jonathan]

cc @dkayiwa @wikumChamith
However noticed on switching to runtime sql runs... this will require me to refresh the search index and also on windows the load time is really long about 6 - 10mins

[Muta-Jonathan]

Its now ready for review

[dkayiwa]

When building, does this allow me to specify the exact version of O3 that i would like to build the standalone for?

[Muta-Jonathan]

When building, does this allow me to specify the exact version of O3 that i would like to build the standalone for?

let me check it out in a minute

[dkayiwa]

Can we also remove the version duplication?

[Muta-Jonathan]

oh yes @dkayiwa
using -Drefapp.version=3.4.0 for ref-App version and -Dopenmrs.version=2.7.4 for openmrs core version
Also to Note
You can specify one like mvn package -Drefapp.version=3.4.0 or mvn install -Drefapp.version=3.4.0 or mvn package -Dopenmrs.version=2.7.4 but the suggested version has to be published in artifact org.openmrs.distro:referenceapplication-distro

<configuration>
	<rules>
		<requireProperty>
			<property>refapp.version</property>
			<message>refapp.version property is missing. This should be
				something like 3.4, 3.5 Add
				-Drefapp.version=3.4.1-SNAPSHOT</message>
		</requireProperty>
		<requireProperty>
			<property>openmrs.version</property>
			<message>openmrs.version property is missing. This should be
				something like 2.7.4, 2.8.0 Add
				-Dopenmrs.version=2.7.4</message>
		</requireProperty>
	</rules>
	<fail>true</fail>
</configuration>

[Muta-Jonathan]

Can we also remove the version duplication?

Oh yes let me take it to the Industry standard

[dkayiwa]

By the way, do we have a CI pipeline to build the standalone and output it as an artifact?

[dkayiwa]

I notice the running the O3 standalone for the first time takes a lot of time. Can't we have this happen during the build such that we publish a standalone zip that is already initialised?

[Muta-Jonathan]

I notice the running the O3 standalone for the first time takes a lot of time. Can't we have this happen during the build such that we publish a standalone zip that is already initialised?

The problem with this is mariadb generates machine-specific metadata, including the mysql system database which defines users, permissions, and hostname bindings. hence work only on the built machine and cannot work on another machine no matter the os more had discussed here https://talk.openmrs.org/t/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-updates-and-discussion/46024/51?u=jonathan

[Muta-Jonathan]

By the way, do we have a CI pipeline to build the standalone and output it as an artifact?

Am not aware of this maybe @Ruhanga has an idea on this but at the moment i dont think so

[Muta-Jonathan]

New look in industry Standard

[dkayiwa]

Would it work with an sql dump that we just load?

[Muta-Jonathan]

Would it work with an sql dump that we just load?

Oh yes and i think currently we are doing this and thats why the load time is longer in my guess

[dkayiwa]

Can't we use an already initialised database to create the sql dump?

[Muta-Jonathan]

Can't we use an already initialised database to create the sql dump?

I think this can work probably this means to use a zipped sql demo to load it at runtime as demo (with patient data)
However how about the Starter Implementation Option? since for it has no patient data

[dkayiwa]

However how about the Starter Implementation Option? since for it has no patient data

A separate sql dump for it?

[Muta-Jonathan]

Can't we use an already initialised database to create the sql dump?

So this means I spin up an sdk 3.x version and from it extract the demo dump which also creates the openmrs schema by default.
And by this we dont need to load the core-data, schema in pom steps and also in regard with the latest-up-to-date.xml if am getting it right?

[dkayiwa]

Tru dat, man!!!

[Muta-Jonathan]

Oh great, Oops gonna take a nap and by morning will jump into this so we get it to work as expected 😊 ....Good night @dkayiwa this as been really helpful hope this approach reduces the load time for our users experience

[dkayiwa]

Sure. In the meantime, i will merge this because it works. Then you will improve it with that. 😊