Andrew Utkin wrote:
Hi,
I have slightly discourage about avalone conatiners availabe here ;)
We need an embeddable container framework. It seems the Fortress and Merlin
is right choice for our project.
I have explore the both and found that Merlin is more suitable. So my
questions: Is Merlin API stable?
No.
The API is changing although generally speaking this is not a problem - and by design should not be a problem. The entire Merlin system aims to eliminate the necessity for direct access to the the API. The level of API exposure dependes on what your application scenario is - but generally speaking it should be rather small.
There are however two aspects that you should be aware of:
1. meta-info API changes 2. meta-data XML changes
Berin and I are working on the separation of the Merlin meta-info model as part of the development of a single Avalon Meta Model. I am taking this opportunity to make changes now to the meta-apis before this API is released. So far these changes have been very minor (and backward compatible) . Also related to this subject is the area of meta-info generation. I'm currently working on revisions of the meta-info generators to bring the model in line with the general Avalon position. This will mean that existing @avalon.meta.* tags will change to @avalon.* and the tag structures themselves will change slightly.
The second area concerns meta-data (the container descriptors and deployment descriptors). There have been some changes that have been sneaking in over the last few weeks. Objective is to make the overall model simpler and more intuitive. Generally speaking 95% of the changes are backward compatible. The other 5% are things like constructed context directives are other such obscure features.
Do your plan to change the API or other
significant parts of Merlin framework?
Yes.
I am working on refactoring the meta-data model and assembly framework through the introduction of an intermediate API (the composition framework). The composition framework handles the establishment of models (meta-info + meta-data + runtime context) that defines the entire containment model - i.e. setting everything in preparation for assembly and deployment (which will handled by the refactored version of the assembly package that will be much simpler to work with). This separation will enable more flexibility when we start dealing with JMXing the internals of the Merlin system and will provide much more control over container side extensions.
When do your plan to release Merlin?
The new Avalon Meta needs to be finished off - this should be done by the end of next week. The Merlin system is already synchronized with the Avalon Meta API so there really isn't anything stopping a release of Merlin right now. However, there is some housekeeping to do concerning documentation and tutorial changes resulting from the breakout of the meta package. I would also like to finalize the composition API before a release - so I guess we are talking about two or three weeks raising the question.
Cheers, Steve.
Thanks.
-- Andrew Utkin
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Stephen J. McConnell mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.osm.net
Sent via James running under Merlin as an NT service. http://avalon.apache.org/sandbox/merlin
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