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As I have written elsewhere there are varying degrees of community in the open source software (OSS) movement. One of the oldest and purest OSS projects upgraded its sixth version to "stable" status today, meaning it now encourages new users to start at that revision level. Apache Tomcat is the servlet container used in the official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies. The more venerable Apache web server is not required and Tomcat will work with any web server that follows the related Java specs.

I say "one of the purest" because the specs are developed by Sun under the Java Community Process (JCP) so it is not totally devoid of a corporate connection, the importance of which is outlined in my taxonomy. The Tomcat code base was donated by Sun to the Apache Software Foundation in 1999. Sun then turns around and adapts and integrates the Tomcat code base back into the J2EE SDK. In 2005, Tomcat became its own top-level Apache project (TLP). Between 1999 and 2005, it had been part of Jakarta (the overall Apache Java OSS activity). Don't confuse Jakarta with the JCP.

This process, at least in the J2EE world, reinforces the ultimate commoditization that will take place at this level of the stack. I opine: why reinvent the wheel? Well people are doing it. In addition to the servlet functionality built into the big-league application servers such as Ironflare/Oracle, JRun, Weblogic, Websphere, and so forth (often also Tomcat) there are also various other OSS efforts within OSS efforts. Enhydra, Glassfish, and others have projects underway that compete with Sun and Winstone offers a servlet "without the bloat" of J2EE. Something for everyone.

Jakarta/JCP. Commercial and non-commercial OSS. That's why I often call the OSS movement Byzantine: I also often say that with the OSS, it is as if it is 1980 and you can "see into" and follow the inner workings of the IBM, HP, DEC and DG engineering departments simultaneously. The intrigue is just as riveting (and human) as described in The Soul of a New Machine.

Apache Tomcat is released under the Apache Software License.

Posted by dennisb in OSS Development |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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