Convincing eclipse/GPE to not recompile GWT code when I make a server-only change

Question

I'm working with GWT and GAE in Eclipse with the google eclipse plugin. Sometimes I just want to make a quick server fix. I change something in my server code and re-deploy, but the GWT code is all recompiled as well. At this point that takes about 10 minutes, and is a real drag when a customer is waiting on the change.

The server code is not in a source path in my GWT modules. Anyone have ideas about convincing GWT that no relevant changes have been made, and that it can skip the recompile? Alternatively, I'd be happy to just manually force the GWT compiler not to run.

Answer 1

If using maven, set the property gwt.compiler.skip to true. If not, there should be a flag in whatever build setup you are using to force a skip when you know it isn't necessary (and if you can share how you are building, it might be possible to offer more specific instructions).

It is very difficult for the compiler to determine that no code which might affect the client has changed, even if you dont change any client or shared code. Generators and linkers both are arbitrary java code that can call anything else on the classpath, and the compiler can't ensure that they don't call into your other classes (and in fact this can be a useful feature, like for RequestFactory proxy validation).