dev@glassfish.java.net

Shared modules

From: Jerome Dochez <Jerome.Dochez_at_Sun.COM>
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:59:41 -0800

Hi All

Some have raised questions on how to package shared or public APIs in
GlassFish V3. although there are no miracle recipe, there are a few
modules that can be considered when packaging shared or public
(including semi-public) classes.

+ common-util

You should use this module when you need to package classes that do not
depend on anything but JDK classes and that can be useful to other
modules. Things like logging, common io routines and utility classes are
a good fit for this module

+ common-ee-util

This is a package for utility classes that are meant to be shared by
Java EE containers, this module imports the Java EE APIs and can
container common services like injection utilities, common security code
etc.

+ internal-api

these are semi public APIs of glassfish, meaning interfaces and
contracts we used to implement GlassFish but are not meant to be the
official extension point for external tools and plugins or extra
containers. It's a free world so people can use it at their own risk but
you don't have to provide backward compatibility to classes packaged in
this module. Those internal APIs are meant to be integration points
between the different part of the application, yet not part of the
public extensibility APIs.

+ internal-ee-api

same as internal-api but using depending on the Java EE APis. this
module is empty for now, I will start moving some classes there soon.

+ glassfish-api

These are the official blessed extensibility APIs internal/external
folks can use to extend GlassFish, it contains contracts definition like
Startup, AdminCommand and other hooks for container providers. None of
these APIs are Java EE dependent as these APIs ship in nucleus which is
the smallest glassfish distribution with no Java EE dependencies.

+ glassfish-ee-api

Same as above but dependent on the JavaEE API, gives access to things
like the InjectionManager, NamingManager for Java EE derived container
access to GlassFish services.

Let me know if you have any questions/issues.

Thanks, Jerome