Apache Tomcat is now proclaiming stability for the 16th release in its 5.5.x series. Version 5.5.16 further strengthens the maturity of the platform
as the march to the next major version begins.
Tomcat is a widely deployed open source Java server technology considered “the servlet container that is used in the official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technologies,” according to the Apache Software Foundation.
Apache Tomcat Project Management Committee (PMC) member Yoav Shapira
classified the 5.5.16 release as primarily a bug-fix release though at
least some users should see some significant improvements.
Shapira explained to internetnews.com that those who utilize native
Apache Portable Runtime (APR) connectors will notice improved stability and
improved error reporting when errors do occur. Clustering features in Tomcat
5.5.16 now properly use session replication in cross-context environments
such as portlet containers.
Users of Java Management Extensions (JMX)
management consoles and users who embed Tomcat in their application and use
JMX to monitor it will notice additional information exposed via JMX.
The Apache Tomcat 5.5.x branch first appeared in September 2004. The first stable release was the 5.5.4 release
in November 2004. In the last year and a half, the 5.5 branch has
strengthened and now quite stable and mature.
“We’ve had a number of stable releases and a good feedback from some large
high-traffic installations,” Shapira said.
The predecessor 5.0 branch of Tomcat is still available for download from
Apache, though the 5.5 branch is now clearly being well adopted and
deployed.
“I haven’t measured this scientifically, but it seems that the majority of
mailing list messages are about Tomcat 5.5 (and have been for a while), and
that we get many downloads with each new 5.5 release,” Shapira commented.
The next major branch of Apache Tomcat though is just around the corner.
“The 5.5 branch is winding its way into maintenance mode as we prepare for
Tomcat 6.0,” Shapira explained. “Tomcat 6.0 will be the version
corresponding to the next servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP)
specifications, servlet spec v2.5 and JSP spec v2.1 respectively.”
The plan if for a Tomcat 6.0.0 release at the same time the new JSP
specifications become final. New specification compliance isn’t the only new
thing users should expect in the 6.0.0 release.
“Internally, we are continuing our push to a smaller, leaner, faster and
more modular Tomcat,” Shapira said. “We are working on improvements, indeed
more like a rewrite to Tomcat’s clustering to make it truly
enterprise-class.”
“We also continue to work on improving the documentation and growing the
community,” Shapira added. “We’ve added a couple of new committers within
the last months.”
