Apache Geronimo, an open-source Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application server, recently released version 2.0.1. InfoQ took the opportunity to learn more about Apache Geronimo and where it fits into the application server space.
Apache Geronimo 2.0.1 is the first Java EE 5 compatible version of Geronimo, and the eighth Java application server to be certified as Java EE 5 compliant. Despite the version number, version 2.0.1 is the first release of the 2.x code branch - the 2.0 release was cancelled when a critical security problem was discovered. This version of Geronimo brings several major changes from the previous release:
- EJB 3.0 support - Apache OpenEJB and Apache OpenJPA are integrated into Geronimo
- JAX-WS support - Both the Apache Axis2 and Apache CXF (formerly CeltiXFire) web services libraries are integrated into Geronimo, and which library is used is configurable
- Two Java EE 5 certified configurations - Geronimo is Java EE 5 certified with both Apache Tomcat and Jetty as the configured web container
- Lightweight configuration - Geronimo has a 'Little G' configuration which provides a web container and some Java EE components without the full overhead of a Java EE application server
Matt Hogstrom, chairman of the Apache Geronimo Project Management Committee, recently discussed the apparent low adoption rate of Geronimo, saying:
I think one of the issues we faced as a project is that we came to the J2EE game too late. You already had WebSphere and WebLogic dominating the commercial space and really JBoss was the only real dominant open source player. Geronimo came in to an already saturated market so getting people to run over to simply change was difficult.
Today we're certified Java EE 5.0 before some commercial application servers as well as other open source servers. At this point I think we're in on the beginning rather than coming late to the game. Its not going to be easy as people are comfortable with their app server choices from before but Geronimo is coming to the table early and has a good opportunity.
There are also questions about the future plans for Geronimo, including whether Geronimo will adopt the OSGi standard. Hogstrom said that migrating from Geronimo's GBeans architecture poses some difficulties due to structural differences between it and OSGi, but that it was being discussed now that JSR 291 (the OSGi JSR) has been finalized.