I haven't found the way yet; currently I deploy the WAR file in tomcat, wait for it to be expanded and then overwrite the db.properties (and activiti-context.xml) files and restart. However, that is not a very nice and stable way to do it.
1. Another way could be to create pull request with the following change: file: /WEB-INF/activiti-standalone-context.xml <code> <bean id="dbProperties" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer"> <property name="location" value="classpath:db.properties" /> <!– /** * Check system properties first, before trying the specified properties. * This allows system properties to override any other property source. */ –> <property name="systemPropertiesMode" value="2" />
<!– Allow other PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer to run as well –> <property name="ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders" value="true" /> </bean> </code> 2. hack: place your modified db.properties file in the classpath in front of the default db.properties from activiti explorer.