12 Replies Latest reply on Aug 14, 2007 1:06 PM by ishabalov

    Ajax4jsf and RichFaces Projects to Be Merged

      In the release of the next version of RichFaces (3.1.0), the Ajax4jsf project will be folded into the RichFaces project. There will be no further official releases based on the former Ajax4jsf codebase.

      There are two major driving forces behind our move:

      1. In the past, Ajax4jsf was kept separate from RichFaces because one was an open source public framework and the other, a commercial components library. Now that both parts are in open source under same license, we don't see why we need to have two projects anymore.

      2. Additionally, we see many problems with the current packaging scheme. When applications are deployed in EAR form, people often need to separate the common API from the components (UI) stuff. So, we decided to use this opportunity to re-package all classes (from both the– Ajax4jsf and the RichFaces projects) into three major functional categories:

      API (richfaces-api.jar)
      Implementation (richfaces-impl.jar)
      UI (richfaces-ui.jar)

      In addition to these, we will include a Component Development Kit JAR (richdaces-cdk.jar) and several smaller JARs for compatibility with various frameworks (Trinidad, GWT, Portals, etc.).

      Dependency will be linear. API and CDK are independent. IMPL depends on API. UI depends on API and IMPL.

      --------

      The JBoss SVN repositories will be reorganized in this way:

      The JBoss Ajax4jsf SVN repository is not going to be changed. The current version in the trunk is 1.1.2 SNAPSHOT. Our Cruise Control will continue to build a nightly build if the code base is changed. No development is expected in the trunk. We are going to fix critical bugs there only.

      The trunk of the JBoss SVN will be branched June 28, 2007. The name for this branch will be "3.0.2". Our Cruise Control will be switched to build 3.0.2 SNAPSHOTs based on the code base in this branch. No active bug fixing is expected in the "3.0.2" branch. We are going to fix critical bugs there only.

      The short-term branch "refactor1" will be created for the merge process. After the merge process is complete, the code will be copied to the RichFaces SVN trunk. The version "3.1.0 SNAPSHOT" will be assigned.

      As soon as the version in the trunk becomes stable enough, our Cruise Control will start to build 3.1.0 SNAPSHOTs nightly. At the same time, Cruise Control will stop building Ajax4jsf and RichFaces based on the former codebase.

      Currently, the new RichFaces components are developed in the RichFaces "sandbox". In order to avoid trouble and delay during the code merge, we will continue development in the "3.0.2" branch until the 3.1.0 code becomes stable.

      ---------

      The next official version of RichFaces (with Ajax4jsf merged in) will be 3.1.0. It is scheduled for the end of this summer.