Mike Milinkovich, Director of the Eclipse Foundation, Discusses the Journey to Jakarta EE 8
Transition to Jakarta EE
- In 2017, Red Hat, IBM, Tommy Tribe, and Oracle made a public announcement about their collaboration to transition Java Enterprise Edition Java EE 8 to an independent foundation. (19s)
- Oracle open-sourced the Java EE Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK), marking a significant milestone as it had never been open-sourced before. (2m52s)
Licensing and Trademark
- Due to complexities in trademark licensing agreements, the Eclipse Foundation will obtain a copyright license for the specifications, enabling them to continue the development and evolution of the Java EE specifications. (4m21s)
- Oracle considers the Java X namespace to be their trademark and wanted control over the evolution of the namespace, which the Eclipse Foundation could not agree to. (8m30s)
Jakarta EE 8
- Jakarta EE 8 will be functionally identical to Java EE 8, including the use of the Java X namespace. (10m2s)
- The difference between using Java EE 8 and Jakarta EE 8 is in the licensing. The Java EE license costs millions of dollars annually, while the Jakarta EE license only requires membership in the Jakarta EE working group. (10m46s)
- Jakarta EE 8 will be binary compatible with Java EE 8, using the same APIs and the
javax
namespace. (15m49s) - Vendors are expected to adopt the Jakarta EE branding quickly. (16m5s)
- Jakarta EE 8 is planned for release before Oracle Code One, which occurs in the third week of September. (16m15s)
Specification Process
- The Eclipse Foundation has created a new specification process that is an overlay on top of their existing development process. (17m10s)
- The specification process is designed to be more formal than typical open source processes because it involves broader patent grants. (18m36s)
Future of Jakarta EE
- There is ongoing debate about whether Jakarta EE 9 should update all Java X namespaces to Jakarta at once ("Big Bang") or incrementally; a decision will be made by early to mid-June. (20m41s)
- Jakarta E8 will match Java E8 to allow users to switch licensing. (22m25s)
- Jakarta E9 will focus on namespace changes to ensure backwards compatibility with class loaders for both javax and Jakarta namespaces. (22m44s)
- MicroProfile will continue to release new specifications three times per year, independent of Jakarta EE. (23m10s)