--- a/README	Wed Jun 13 10:33:37 2012 -0400
+++ b/README	Wed Jun 13 21:33:48 2012 +0200
@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
 Thank you for downloading Thermostat.
 
-REQUIREMENTS:
+This document contains the following information useful to compile and run
+Thermostat:
+
+1. REQUIREMENTS
+2. BUILDING THERMOSTAT
+3. RUNNING THERMOSTAT
+4. PASSING JVM SPECIFIC OPTIONS
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+REQUIREMENTS
 
 OpenJDK7
 Thermostat requires at least Java 7 to build and run. Thermostat has been tested
@@ -13,7 +23,9 @@
 
 Either a /etc/os-release file or lsb_release
 
-BUILDING THERMOSTAT:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+BUILDING THERMOSTAT
 
 1. Run "mvn clean package". All tests should pass and the build should succeed.
    Requires a graphical environment for the ui tests.
@@ -29,7 +41,9 @@
 2. The resultant Thermostat system can now be found under the directory
    distribution/target.
 
-RUNNING THERMOSTAT:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+RUNNING THERMOSTAT
 
 0. cd into distribution/target directory just created
 
@@ -41,3 +55,21 @@
 
 3. To start the cli client:
    bin/thermostat [--help]
+
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+PASSING JVM SPECIFIC OPTIONS
+
+In some cases, it may be desirable to pass arguments to the virtual machine,
+for example to increase memory or change the look and feel for the Swing Client.
+
+Thermostat follows a well established convention to enable this: options that
+start with -J are not passed to the thermostat launcher, but instead to the
+JVM itself.
+
+For example, this command launches thermostat with the Nimbus Look and Feel,
+rather then the default one:
+
+bin/thermostat gui \
+    -J-Dswing.defaultlaf=javax.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel
+

--- a/distribution/scripts/thermostat	Wed Jun 13 10:33:37 2012 -0400
+++ b/distribution/scripts/thermostat	Wed Jun 13 21:33:48 2012 +0200
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 export THERMOSTAT_HOME
 THERMOSTAT_LIBS="${THERMOSTAT_HOME}/libs"
 
+# all the various libraries we need, mainly external dependencies
 JCOMMON_JAR="${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}/jcommon.jar"
 MONGO_JAR="${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}/mongo.jar"
 BSON_JAR="${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}/bson.jar"
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@
 TOOLS_JAR="@java.home@/../lib/tools.jar"
 NETTY_JAR="${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}/netty-3.2.4.Final.jar"
 
-#SERVICE_CLASSPATH="${JCOMMON_JAR}:${MONGO_JAR}:${BSON_JAR}:${TOOLS_JAR}:${JOPT_JAR}:${NETTY_JAR}"
+# plus the main services we use and export
 SERVICE_CLASSPATH="${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}/*"
 
 THERM_DIR=${THERMOSTAT_LIBS}
@@ -61,5 +62,29 @@
 SERVICE_CLASSPATH="${TOOLS_JAR}:${SERVICE_CLASSPATH}:${THERM_DIR}/thermostat-agent-@project.version@.jar:${THERM_DIR}/thermostat-common-@project.version@.jar:${THERM_DIR}/thermostat-tools-@project.version@.jar"
 THERMOSTAT_MAIN="com.redhat.thermostat.launcher.Thermostat"
 
-${JAVA} -cp ${SERVICE_CLASSPATH} ${THERMOSTAT_MAIN} "$@"
+# start parsing arguments, we intercept jvm arguments vs thermostat specific
+# arguments
+JAVA_ARGS=()
+ARGS=()
+
+i=0
+j=0
+
+while [ "$#" -gt "0" ];
+do
+    case "$1" in
+    -J*)
+        JAVA_ARGS[$i]="${1##-J}"
+        i=$((i+1))
+        ;;
+    *)
+        ARGS[$j]="$1"
+        j=$((j+1))
+        ;;
+    esac
+    shift
+done
+
+# finally run thermostat
+${JAVA} "${JAVA_ARGS[@]}" -cp ${SERVICE_CLASSPATH} ${THERMOSTAT_MAIN} "${ARGS[@]}"
 exit $?