Java software tools maker ZeroTurnaround has acquired Javeleon, a Denmark based startup that produces a tool that allows developers to incorporate changes to code in a running Java application. Javeleon's product is related to ZeroTurnaround's popular JRebel dynamic Java class-reloading tool. The acquisition includes exclusive rights to all related intellectual property. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Javeleon was founded in 2012 to commercialize technology built upon research at the Maersk McKinney Moeller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark.
As part of the deal the firm’s two employees, co-founders Dr. Allan Gregersen and Michael Rasmussen, will join forces with ZeroTurnaround’s product and engineering teams in Estonia.
Following the acquisition Javeleon will cease to exist as a brand, its technology being folded into future JRebel releases. Javeleon does have some features which JRebel lacks, such as the the ability to handle class hierarchy changes. "This was already on ZeroTurnaround's roadmap," Alex Laats, ZeroTurnaround President & COO, told InfoQ, "and the acquisition will accelerate the availability of this functionality."
Laats said that they are not yet ready to talk about the future roadmap in terms of timing but wanted users to know that there is a lot of cool technology on the way that will strengthen JRebel's capabilities.
JRebel first arrived on the scene in 2007 as an innovative alternative to Java's HotSwap feature introduced in Java 1.4. Prior to HotSwap changes in software code required a restart of the application, which is generally time consuming, in order to incorporate the changes. HotSwap was limited however in that it could only tolerate implementation changes, not API changes such as to method signatures or return types.
JRebel one-upped HotSwap by permitting signature modifications and changes to return types. Those capabilities thrust JRebel into the main stream where it was considered an indispensible tool by software developers.
Over the years, JRebel further reduced development time by permitting a broader set of change types to be reloaded, for example changes to static members, or to framework configuration such as Spring beans, and later to allow reloading of applications running in an app server.
As well as JRebel, ZeroTurnaround sells an application release automation tool called LiveRebel, which reached version 2.6 this week, as announced on InfoQ.
[Editors Note: Article was edited for greater detail on March 28th]