Making good on its intention to make Java EE more open, Oracle yesterday selected the Eclipse Foundation to be stewards of the enterprise edition of the platform.
According to Oracle, moving Java EE technologies to an open-source foundation will enable those working on the specification to adopt more agile processes, implement more flexible licensing, and change the governance process.
“The Eclipse Foundation has strong experience and involvement with Java EE and related technologies,” wrote Oracle software evangelist David Delabassee in a blog posted yesterday. “This will help us transition Java EE rapidly, create community-friendly processes for evolving the platform, and leverage complementary projects such as [Eclipse] MicroProfile. We look forward to this collaboration.”
Under the plan, which Oracle said it first approached major Java EE contributors IBM and Red Hat about, the company will relicense its Java EE and related Glassfish technologies to the foundation, and work with the foundation to rebrand Java EE. Existing JSRs can continue to use javax package names and component specification names for the sake on continuity, Delabassee wrote. Oracle also will use foundation sources to build a compatible Java EE 8 implementation that passes those technology compatibility kits.
Oracle will support existing Java EE licensees, including those moving to Java EE 8 when it’s completed, Delabassee wrote. The company will also support WebLogic Server versions and to support Java EE 8 in the next WebLogic Server version.
“We believe this plan will enable us to continue to support existing Java EE standards, while enabling the evolution to a more open environment,” Delabassee wrote. “There’s more work to do, but we believe we’re on the right track.”
