Basics of the Web Profile
The JEE 6 web profile is a specified minimal configuration targeted for small footprint servers that support "typical" web applications. The Web profile is a minimal specification, so an implementation is free to add additional services or allow applications to provision additional services. The required elements of the web profile are:
- Servlet 3.0
- JavaServer Pages (JSP) 2.2
- ExpressionLanguage (EL) 2.2
- Debugging Support for Other Languages (JSR-45) 1.0
- Standard Tag Library for JavaServer Pages (JSTL) 1.2
- JavaServer Faces (JSF) 2.0
- Common Annotations for Java Platform (JSR-250) 1.1
- Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.1 Lite
- Java Transaction API (JTA) 1.1
- Java Persistence API (JPA) 2.0
Details on the current state of each of these is traced below. Geronimo is already at the current level for some of these components, for others we'll need to located updated versions. Hopefully, this will be just new releases of components we already use, but this might also require developing some elements directly as part of Geronimo.
In addition, the Geronimo spec tree contains versions of the API classes for these different interfaces, so we will probably need to develop new versions of the API classes.
As a first step in developing these, we might want to create a plugin group that is an embodiment of the web profile using the JEE5 components currently in Geronimo. This will give use a platform for experimenting with how to configure the server for the smaller footprint and how to allow additional services to be added to the mimimal profile configuration. Also, as JEE6 compatible implementations become available, we can create additional plugins that allow the newer versions to be swapped in to the configurations.
Component Details
The current known state for each of these components in Geronimo is detailed here. Feel free to update this information as new details emerge.
Component: Servlet 3.0
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
Servlet 2.4
Current Geronimo Provider
The servlet container can be either Tomcat 6.0.18 or Jetty 7? The Tomcat artifact Geronimo uses contains patches applied on top of the Tomcat 6.0.18 version.
According to the summary presented here:
The Tomcat plan is for a 7.0.x release that supports the Servlet 3.0 specification to be available as soon as the Servlet 3.0 spec finalizes. This chart has an interesting note that this will support JSP 2.1 because there is no JSP 2.2.
For Jetty, there is a similar project plan for an 8.0.x version also planned at the time Servlet 3.0 goes final.
Status of JEE6 Activity
Unknown. In the Tomcat community, this appears to have been discussed, but is not really under active development. The Jetty community seems to be tracking the Servlet 3.0 activity a little more closely, but I've not found any projections for availability.
Additional Notes
Component: JavaServer Pages 2.2
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
JSP 2.1
Current Geronimo Provider
Geronimo is currently relying on Jasper for the JSP on Tomcat. I'm not sure I understand what the Jetty story is on this.
Status of JEE6 Activity
I've not been able to locate many signs of activity on this.
Additional Notes
There's something bizarre going on with this spec and the Expression Language one. The Tomcat release plan indicates there is no JSP 2.2 version. There don't appear to be any JSP 2.2 specifications that can be located, and there are no JSRs at the Sun Java web site related to a JSP 2.2 release. The only references I've managed to find have been a couple of indicators that Glassfish is supporting JSP 2.2, but there don't appear to be any details on what this actually is.
New information has emerged on this spec. There is no JSP 2.2 or EL 2.2 specification. This is, however, a maintenance release of the JSR 245 Specification that contains some minor enhancements to both the JSR 2.1 spec and the EL Information about the proposed changes can be found here.
Component: Expression Language (EL) 2.2
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
EL 1.0
Current Geronimo Provider
This is provided by the JSP provider, so they're fairly tightly coupled.
Status of JEE6 Activity
This tends to be tightly coupled with the JSP providers, do it's difficult to say what the story is.
Additional Notes
The spec version appears to be a bit of a muddle. The spec jar is getting built claiming it is 1.0, but the latest version defined in the Web Profile appears to be in lock-step with the JSP version numbers. It's not clear what version we are actually at currently, but it is possible that there have not been any API changes in this area since the 1.0 version.
It appears that the Web Profile specification has an error in the version number. There is no Expression Language 2.2 specification. However, the JSR 245 Maintenance Release includes some minor updates to the EL specification. These updates are not broken out into a separate spec, but are included under the umbrella of the updated JSP 2.1 spec.
Component: Debugging Support for Other Languages (JSR-45) 1.0
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
1.0
Current Geronimo Provider
This is really JSP debugging support, and is implemented by the JSP provider. We're currently getting this from Jasper.
Status of JEE6 Activity
Nothing new for JEE6 in this area.
Additional Notes
Component: Standard Tag Library for JavaServer Pages (JSTL) 1.2
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
None?
Current Geronimo Provider
It's not clear from the pom where the jstl version comes from. The version number is 1.2, so we might be good here.
Status of JEE6 Activity
?????
Additional Notes
Component: JavaServer Faces (JSF) 2.0
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
None?
Current Geronimo Provider
MyFaces 1.2.6, which is at a JSF 1.2 level.
Status of JEE6 Activity
There is an active MyFaces 2.0 project, though I've not been able to find much status about where this is in implementation.
Additional Notes
Component: Common Annotations for Java Platform (JSR-250) 1.1
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
geronimo-annotation_1.0_spec-1.1.1
Current Geronimo Provider
Geronimo implemented.
Status of JEE6 Activity
Not started, but this should be a fairly simple item to complete.
Additional Notes
This is really just a set of annotations classes that can be shared across different JEE components.
Component: Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.1 Lite
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
geronimo-ejb_3.0_spec_-1.01
Current Geronimo Provider
OpenEJB
Status of JEE6 Activity
Like the web profile itself, this appears to describe a minimal feature set, but an implementation can provide more than the minimum, if desired. This appears fairly easy to meet, once the 3.1 feature set is implemented. Portions of the 3.1 features have already been implemented in OpenEJB.
Additional Notes
The embedded version of OpenEJB is capable of handling a dynamic provisioning of the different subsystems from the Lite profile version up to the full capability (minus the CORBA integration, which is handled by Geronimo). It appears there will be some work required on the part of Geronimo to create profiles/plugins that will selectively start the GBeans that integrate different portions of the OpenEJB stack with the configuration. Currently, the Geronimo EJB configuration is an all-or-nothing proposition.
Component: Java Transaction API (JTA) 1.1
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
geronimo-jta_1.1_spec-1.1.1
Current Geronimo Provider
Implemented by Geronimo directly.
Status of JEE6 Activity
No revisions required for JEE6,
Additional Notes
Component: Java Persistence API (JPA) 2.0
Current Geronimo Spec Versions
geronimo-jpa_3.0_spec-1.1.1
Current Geronimo Provider
OpenJPA 1.2.1
Status of JEE6 Activity
The 2.0 version is actively being developed by the OpenJPA community on trunk (2.0.0-SNAPSHOT.)
Additional Notes
JPA 2.0 Spec API is being developed in specs/trunk/geronimo-jpa_2.0_spec. As new public spec drafts are released, we move the existing API to branches to preserve building OpenJPA Milestone releases. Also, there is a JCP legal restriction that the current JPA artifacts must be labeled as Early Access and for testing purposes only (see the included NOTICE file.)
Currently, OpenJPA 2.0.0 Milestone 2 is using the 1.0-EA2-SNAPSHOT branch and includes most features that were defined in the Spec before the latest PFD dated March 13, 2009.