Hi all,
Four years ago, when we were building Java EE 6, we had this idea of a
minimal profile that Roberto blogged about (
http://weblogs.java.net/blog/robc/archive/2008/02/profiles_in_the.html).
The idea was to standardise "Tomcat-like" application servers with a
minimal profile containing Servlets and JSPs. So we would have had this
"minimal" profile, the web profile and the full one. We mostly voted no on
this minimal profile, and I was one of them.
I've spent the week migrating a JSF 1.2 application running on Tomcat to
JBoss 6 EAP (which comes with JSF 2.0). Now I'm trying to run an
application with JAX-RS 2.0 running on GlassFish 3.x (which comes with
JAX-RS 1.1). On both cases, it's hell. This would be easier if I could have
used a JBoss 6 EAP Minimal Profile (or a GlassFish 3.x Minimal Profile) and
bundle my own external jars like I do with Tomcat. If we want applications
to migrate to Java EE application servers, one ease of use would be to have
just a servlet container. And it will give a nice migration plan to
application : e.g. "migrate from Tomcat to JBoss Minimal profile, and then
when you are used to your new application server, move to a Web Profile and
start adding other Java EE modules".
I think having a new "Minimal Profile" (a better name would be a "Servlet
Profile" with just Servlets, EL and JSP) would increase modularity in
application servers and help applications to migrate to Java EE.
What would you think of introducing a new profile in Java EE 7 ?
Antonio