Hi all, two months ago, Martin contacted Slide and HttpComponents [1a,1b] with the idea of joining them into a new Top Level Project (TLP). The initial response was positive on both sides, and I feel it is time to get the ball rolling. I'm starting this discussion thread to establish a common view on the prospective TLP. Once this is achieved, we can draft and vote on a TLP proposal. I'm from HttpComponents and joined that community when it was still around HttpClient, but after HttpClient was spun off from Commons. If I am not mistaken, HttpClient was originally spun off from Slide into Commons, since an HTTP client library was considered useful on it's own. So joining these subprojects would be a kind of re-union.
HttpComponents [2] currently has responsibility for two codebases. There is the new HttpComponents 4.0 codebase, which is prospering and sees a lot of activity from established committers as well as new contributors. And there is the historic HttpClient 3.x codebase. It is running in maintenance mode, but is in widespread use and will continue to be so for years to come. The new codebase is not compatible with the old one, so even if we declare the old one obsolete, it will continue to be used. And we will continue to support users of that codebase, even though development stops. I've been following the Slide [3] developer list for about two months, and I've read through their home page. The last release was at the end of 2004, and development seems to have basically stopped then. Slide comprises both client and server side components, with most of the code being for the server side. Martin indicated that the server side functionality is being replaced by Jackrabbit [4], but that the client side could have a future. Slide has two client side components, a WebDAV library and a WebDAV command line tool. In case you are not familiar with it, WebDAV is an extension of HTTP. The Slide WebDAV client library is based on the old HttpClient code. Incidentally, Jackrabbit also has a WebDAV client library which is based on the old HttpClient code. So, how would the new project look like? I see it as the home of three codebases: a) HttpComponents 4.0 + modules for a WebDAV client based on the 4.0 API, active. Maybe also the command line client. b) HttpClient 3.x, in maintenance mode. c) Slide 2.1, in maintenance mode. The scope for the activities of the new project: HTTP and related, with a focus on libraries implementing the protocols rather than applications using them. "related" encompasses HTTP extensions such as WebDAV and CalDAV, and other HTTP-like protocols such as SIP. Compared to the current scope of HttpComponents, it is an extension towards the content layer. HttpComponents is deliberately content agnostic and focusing on the transport aspects of HTTP. Compared to the current scope of Slide, it is a strong cutback. The server-side repository architecture, including ACL and whatever, is falling out of scope. Your thoughts? cheers, Roland [1a] http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/jakarta-slide-dev/200706.mbox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] [1b] http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/jakarta-httpcomponents-dev/200706.mbox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] [2] http://jakarta.apache.org/httpcomponents/ [3] http://jakarta.apache.org/slide/ [4] http://jackrabbit.apache.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
