Stefan
This is exactly what we have been aiming for :-)
To a large extent you can already do this today. You can mix-and-match
the different modules simply by providing a custom configuration plan.
As a concrete example, this is what we did at Gluecode to build the JOE
SE product which aimed at filling your <VOID>: Servlet + JSP + JMS +
services such as deployment, transactions and database access.
Geronimo is not a J2EE monolith - it is a collection of system services
and a kernel to bind them together. What we certify is a J2EE monolith
because it has to pass *ALL* the CTS tests but that is just one
assembled form.
--
Jeremy
Stefan Arentz wrote:
On May 27, 2005, at 6:07 PM, Jeremy Boynes wrote:
Stefan brings up the question of whether we want to release sub-
modules of Geronimo separately. I think this is a good idea and would
propose the following restructure of the tree to move in this direction.
Let me just explain my motivation a bit, maybe that will also help for
the plan.
In my original email I said something about not needing all the J2EE
stuff. I exaggerated a bit of course, but most of the applications that
I have been writing in the last couple of years are done mostly with a
subset of the whole J2EE umbrella. Some apps were just some network
service wrapped in (JMX) beans, a service exposed with Spring (Burlap,
XML-RPC) other apps were simply a web app backed by a shared Spring
context. I've never needed all the stuff in J2EE.
So far I've always done this on JBoss. Their MBean stuff works ok, but
I wish it was easier to 'downsize' jboss to just a container with the
stuff I need. That never really seemed to be their goal however. The
complexity of their configuration files shows that.
So, what I would really like to see wrt Geronimo is an absolute minimal
server with add-on packages for things like a web container, jms
provider, etc. You want to host a web app? Throw in the Tomcat or Jetty
personality. Need JMS too, add ActiveMQ. Persistence? Simply add a
hibernate deployer. Mix and match so that it does what your app needs.
This is where Geronimo could shine and even take away a large chunk of
Tomcat; most people just want to deploy their web app and optionally
add some more services without having to understand a full J2EE stack.
Geronimo can fill that void extremely well I think. (Simple Web
Container .. <VOID> .. J2EE Monolith)
Ok so just complaining doesn't work well for this project, so what I
really would like to do is start figuring out how I can give Geronimo
'personalities' for popular combinations of technology. Like,
- Geronimo Kernel + Tomcat + JSTL2.0 + Spring + Hibernate
- Geronimo Kernel + Web Services
- Geronimo Kernel + JMX Enabled custom network service
and then do some writing about it on the wiki. Make recipes for people,
or even complete packages that are downloadable.
I really think this is how Geronimo can also get acceptance with a much
larger crowd.
S.
