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Shelly McGowan's Blog

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Once upon a time not too long ago, JBoss AS distributions shipped a single jboss-javaee.jar that included the EE APIs as required by the EE platform specification.  This single jar was a good idea but maintenance of the project and the ability to easily modify and consume outside of JBoss AS was not.   Additionally, it did not include the full set of EE APIs and duplication of APIs was consistently problematic during project integration.  Starting with JBoss AS 6 and the feature request to break the APIs in separate projects, the JBoss Java EE API Specs project was redesigned with the following goals in mind:

 

  1. Maintain a single repository containing the required APIs as defined by the EE Platform Specification
  2. Allow individual release cycle per each technology API set
  3. Define a naming scheme which references the API specification version to avoid confusion between that and the version of the artifact
  4. Promote adoption of these versioned APIs for use in all JBoss-released projects
  5. Aggregate JavaDocs for the complete EE API set and publish to the Community for developer reference

 

Most of these goals have already been achieved.    These APIs are used currently in JBoss AS 6 and JBoss AS 7 and ready to be consumed by any project that requires them.  They're available today from the JBoss nexus repository.

 

Also available is the ability to include the jboss-javaee-6.0 aggregate pom to bring in all the EE APIs with one single dependency:

 

<dependency>

   <groupId>org.jboss.spec</groupId>

   <artifactId>jboss-javaee-6.0</artifactId>

   <version>1.0.0.Final</version>

   <type>pom</type>

   <scope>provided</scope>

</dependency>

 

I've started version 2.0.0 series and released  2.0.0.Beta1 of the aggregate for use with JBoss AS 7.   The version scheme is intended to denote the AS version the aggregate pom aligns with but the individual APIs are certainly compatible between the two (as both are implementations of the Java EE 6 Web Profile specification).

 

This aggregate is used in the Java EE Archetype project and with Arquillian.  Aslak filed an RFE to provide an uber jar for Windows users.  That will be available soon.

 

If you have other requests or issues related to the JBoss Java EE API specs project, file it in the JBEE JIRA project to let me know.

Since the release of JBoss Application Server 6.0.0.Final on December 28, 2010, there are already more than 12,000 downloads and the application migration has started.   Many developers are taking advantage of the new features and new technologies available.  This release is a fully certified implementation of the Java EE 6 Web Profile specification.  We're very excited about this achievement as well as the positive feedback from the community in this first week.  The AS team has worked hard not only to implement these technologies but also to define them.  Most of the component project leads represent Red Hat in their respective specification expert groups in addition to leading JSR-299:  Contexts and Dependency Injection for the Java EE Platform and JSR-303: Bean Validation specifications.  Here's a summary of the projects that make up our Java EE 6 Web Profile:

 

  • EJB 3.1 Lite and Embeddable Functionality
  • JBoss Web 3.0 (Servlet 3.0, JSP 2.2, EL 2.2, JSTL 1.2)
  • WELD 1.1 (reference implementation of JSR-299)
  • Hibernate Validator 4.1.0 (reference implementation of JSR-303)
  • Hibernate 3.6.0
  • JBoss Transactions 4.14.0
  • Dependency Injection 1.0
  • JSF 2.0 (see Stan's blog about JSF integration in AS 6)
  • RESTEasy 2.1.0
  • HornetQ 2.1.2 (the default messaging provider)

 

In addition to the Web Profile, there are several noteworthy features which were outlined in one of my previous blog posts.  This Final release also provides IPv6 support.  Refer to the Release Notes for additional list of component upgrades, bug fixes, and enhancements.  We're still working on the JBoss AS 6 documentation set and writing articles on the AS 6 capabilities and features now that we're back from the holiday break.

 

JBoss AS 6.0.0.Final release is an important step in providing the community with compliant technologies and assurance to standards. These technologies coupled with the on-going development of the domain management model in JBoss AS 7 proves why JBoss Application Server is the most popular open-source application server.    And, it's easy to get started.  Simply download the 6.0.0.Final version, unzip the distribution to your platform of choice, start the server.    Share your experience with the community in our forums.   While you're there, check out the newly designed JBoss AS 6 desktop wallpapers found with the other "Cool Stuff".

 

Happy coding and Happy New Year!

The most popular open-source application server has reached yet another milestone.  JBoss Application Server 6 Candidate Release 1 is now available for download.  The goal of this and our remaining JBoss AS 6.0.0.Final release is to comply with the requirements of the Java EE 6 Web Profile Specification.   With 97% of those requirements met, we're very close to that goal.  The technologies that comprise the Java EE 6 standards are now easier to Use, easier to Learn, easier to Evolve, and easier to Extend which I mentioned during a presentation last April at the Boston JBoss User Group.    Now is the time to test out these claims with this latest release.  But, this release is more than just assurance to standards.   One key upgrade to note is that JBoss Cache has been replaced with Infinispan, 4.2.0.Beta1 release, as the distributed cache provider.   The integration of Infinispan includes management capabilities of Infinispan cache managers and cache instances readily available via the Administration Console when starting the 'all' config or one customized from it.  No extra configuration steps are needed.

 

Infinispan.png

On the topic of management capabilities,  a few JBoss AS colleagues visited the inmates at the Asylum while at the Devoxx Conference last week.  Check out the latest PodCast where they summarize the features of the AS 6.0.0.CR1 release.  The discussion continues to give an overview of the first alpha release of AS 7.0.0http://relation.to/Bloggers/AS700Alpha1Releasedand its' architecture which emphasizes our Usability initiative for developers and administrators alike.

 

A lot of excitement around the JBoss community these days with so much going on.   Let's keep it going.

I couldn't resist such a corny analogy . . .

 

. . . We're experiencing a Nor'easter here in New England today.  Rain, wind and cooler temperatures.  Getting cooler after a fantastic year of seasonable weather in this area.  Getting cooler also reminds me of the upcoming candidate release of JBoss Application Server 6 where we continue to provide cool stuff to the development community.  I updated the 6.0.0.CR1 Executive Status this morning with what's planned for this week including the final component and bug fix freeze.  The CR1 branch will be created at the end of the day on Wednesday, November 10 - 11:59 EST to be exact.  This will give us time to get the release tested and promoted to the Download site in time for the Devoxx Conference next week in Belgium.   We're not quite done yet.  We have a few more cool features to finish up for the 6.0.0.Final release scheduled to be out by the end of the year.  Stay Tuned.

With the 6.0.0.M5 release behind us and the 6.0.0.CR1 code freeze three weeks from now, I've been looking at the outstanding work needed to get AS 6 to Final.   Looking forward, forward-thinking - quite consistent with the views of the "best and brighest" that I'm surrounded by daily at work and who are always looking toward future development.   Before I summarize where we are today, let's take a look at what's been accomplished over the past few months.

 

In December 2009, Jason Greene gave a DZone interview titled "What's new in JBoss AS 6 Milestone 1".   This interview summarized the release highlights of Milestone 1 but also gave an overview of the Java EE 6 Web Profile and Red Hat's participation in the JCP which included, but not not limited to, leading the Contexts and Dependency Injection and Bean Validation specifications.   Since then, our committment to Java EE 6 standards has continued and delivered in the JBoss AS Milestone releases that have occurred since.  MileStone 2 included Servlet 3.0 capabilities via JBoss Web 3.0.0, JPA 2.0 starting with the integration of Hibernate 3.5.0-CR-1, JAX-RS 1.0 and an update to JSF 2.0.  Support for EJB 3.1 Singleton Beans was available in MileStone 3.  EJB 3.1 Asynchronous Invocations and Advanced Timers were available in MileStone 4 as well as a compliant implementation of the Jax-RS 1.1 specification with the integration of RESTEasy 2.0.  JBossWS-CXF, also available since Milestone 4, offers a new web services implementation that is built on top of the Apache CXF web services stack. This gives existing JBossWS users better performance and more WS-* features.  MileStone 5 offered upgrades to JBossWS-CXF and WELD (implementation of Contexts and Dependency Injection specification) plus many bug fixes as in all milestone releases.

 

Aside from work involved in implementing the Java EE 6 specifications, several feature enhancements have been delivered:

 

 

More details on specific projects and additional features can be found in the JBoss Community sites.

 

I've also seen a recent blog on a good user experience with AS 6.0.0.M5. There were subtle references made regarding its' ease-of-installation, quick boot performance (consistent with my 15s avg), and the JBoss AS 6 Administration Console readily available to assist with configuring and managing resources for your JBoss AS instance.  A quick reminder of why there are so many downloads of our release distributions.   Speaking of distributions . . .  Did you know you can always grab a SNAPSHOT zip distribution from our public Hudson instance (NOTE: Only the smoke-tests are run before they are archived for download.)

 

Getting back to where we are today.  This week preparation is under way for the Infinispan integration as mentioned in my recent email.   As soon as that is completed, integration of components for jboss-injection will begin.   These integrations have been planned for 6.0.0.CR1 which is expected to be released in time for the Devoxx Conference.  (I plan to be in attendance and hope to meet some of you there.)  The 6.0.0.Final release is scheduled to follow soon after that with a target code freeze date of December 17.

 

As always, visit the JBoss forums if you have questions, comments, or contributions.

Release early, release often so they say.  So in my new role as JBoss Application Server 6 lead thought I'd do just that.


JBoss AS 6 MileStone 5 is now available for download.  It's great to see how many downloads there are since this release became available.  If you haven't done so already, find out more about it in the Release Notes.  Deploy your web applications and give us some feedback as we continue working on the goals for the first Candidate Release.