I was also thinking about the delivered server (since we have been
discussing footprint).
Perhaps we could deliver Geronimo as two pieces:
1) A minimal server that provides a console for adding plugins or plugin
'packages' (ie: certified jee5 tomcat server)
2) An archived plugin repository.
If someone knows that they will be able to access the online plugin
repository, then they would only need to download the basic server (nice
and small) and add plugins as needed.
Hopefully, that will avoid all of the transitive dependency and unneeded
module issues.
We could decide what combinations we wanted to certify on and provide
those as templates (or profiles or packages or whatever name we came up
with for them) for easy installation.
And, if users put together combinations that they thought might be
useful for others - they could possibly upload them as a package profile
(or at least email them around).
That would add a step for someone who wanted to just download a JEE5
server - but it would emphasize that Geronimo is more than just a JEE
server.
Jay
Matt Hogstrom wrote:
Seems like the dev list has been a bit quiet lately as I know many
folks have been working on getting 2.0 done and through some
additional testing for Axis, fit and finish stuff, etc. Although
important, its not exactly the next generation so I thought I'd start
this thread to get some ideas formed around the next step for AG.
These are just my thoughts and I'm soliciting input for ideas and
discussion.
I thought I'd put my thoughts in the form of a user describing what
they need from Geronimo. This is based on input I've heard from
several folks as well as users and includes some of my own ideas as
well. It feels like we've been chasing the specs for so long that we
haven't fully realized some of the other awesome ideas people have
had. Aaron's plugin architecture is workable but not fully
consumable, Dain's repository work and a host of other ideas. I think
now is the time to have some fun. To that end here is the list of
requirements.
Geronimo 2.1 Punch List
*Flexible framework for building server assemblies that include only
the components needed for an application*
This means that a user could either build a custom assembly with only
the needed parts or, alternatively, could run with all parts available
but only start what they need. The model is up to the user to decide
based on their unique requirements.
*Dynamically binding needed elements*
Using the plugin architecture and Maven repo concepts one could
install a needed element into the server by simply pointing to a
remote repository and installing the element. Other artifacts needed
for execution would be obtained automagically from either the network
or a shared filesystem as needed and based on the policies provided by
the user. The default mode of operation would provide the best user
experience.
*Dynamic Console for managing installed artifacts*
Improve the console framework to allow installed artifacts to register
a portlet for managing the configuration. For highest level of
flexibility a component would provide the required portlet elemtns and
we would bind them into the navigation framework and security
infracstructure. We'd need a good set of docs and samples to help
people in deploying this easy. Ideally we would start with a minimal
assembly and a mgmt console so that new functions could be loaded
through the console. I'm not sure that we'd need to have an assembly
smaller than minimal at this point since we'd need a web container for
the mgmt console anyway.
*Cluster Aware Mgmt Application*
For users that want to federate a number of servers together we need a
clustering solution that will allow for configuration of nodes as well
as autodiscovery. This requires a clustering element for Geronimo
that takes into account multiple clustering users (services). I think
Jeff has some of the foundation in GCache.
*SOA Assembly*
It would be great to have a SOA assembly (that works in a flexible way
:) with AMQ, ServiceMix and a Tx Manager. A LOT of people I talk to
want something simple like a Tomcat and a Mule...let's give it to them.
*Tooling*
A really huge part of what people have talked about as being important
is tooling integration (I've heard mostly about Eclipse and NetBeans).
*OSGi and Spring*
This has been kicked around for a long time. I was talking with
someone who said they needed a flexible runtime that would allow them
to wire in OSGi bundles (seems like the traction is increasing) and
use Spring for the configuration. People smarter than I can weigh in
on this area but this is seems to get Independent Software Vendors
(ISV's) all hot under the collar. If we could deliver this with the
flexible server stuff I think we'd have a huge swell of interest.
Other thoughts?
