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3 June 2006 RC9 Distribution

DPML RC9 distributution is released. The release includes finalization of the Depot build management model, enhancements to the Metro runtime with respect to internal part deployment ordering, the incorporation of symbolic links across all XSD references (enabling improved future evolution of schema documents). In addition the HTTP package has been updated to incorporate resolution of Jetty 6.0.0 IE/SSL issue.

12 April 2006 RC7 Distribution

Documentation enhancements. Improvements to the module schema, general cleanup of the codebase (including removal of projects no longer required). Upgrade of the HTTP package to Jetty 1.0.0-B14.

8 April 2006 RC6 Distribution

The RC6 distributution captures rationaization and convergence of two deployment strategies - plugins versus components. Under RC6 the notion of part has been refactored to be abstract base for component and plugin definitions - resulting in a cleaner object model and greater utilization of custom XML schemas introduced in the RC4 distribution.

28 March 2006 RC4 Distribution

Following a series of 'under-the-radar' RC distributions, the RC4 deliverable is now available. RC4 resolves several runtime issues specific to the nix* platform, incorporates a cleaner cross-JVM logging aggregation subsystem, introduced full XML-Schema based definitions for long term storage of library, component, and application profiles. Lastly, the distribution includes important enhancements to the underlying plugin machinery enabling the declaration custom plugin deployment schemes and and runtime strategy handlers.

13 January 2005 20060113 Milstone Distribution

The 20060113 milestone resolves some installation issues under Unix and closes an obscure bug in Transit resource management layer. This milestone also includes a Windows installer.

10 January 2005 20060110 Milstone Distribution

The milestone build 20060110 incorporates a series of updates dealing with full support for both Unix and Windows under JDK 1.5. The milestone is released with the specific objective of binary distribution validation.

31 December 2005 Retrospective

The DPML was established is October 2004. Initial efforts focused on infrastructure and migration of the Merlin codebase out of Apache and the first quarter of 2005 was characterized by a mixture of migration, rationalization and vision. The second quarter was to some extent a watershed in terms of community strategy and development goals combined with the groundwork on an internal refactoring of the Metro system codenamed "Freight-Train". Activities in the third-quarter focused on FT development resulting in the progressive delivery of functionality during Q4. By December 2005 FT was nearing completion involving significant enhancements to the component model, large-scale optimizations within the implementation, and significant improvements to the build and runtime management strategies.

28 December 2005 Freight Train

The first binary distribution of the DPML Platform Freight Train version was release as a snapshot build on the 24 of December. A follow-up distribution was released earlier today closing some minor issues with the 20051224 build. In parallel tutorials on the Transit and Depot system were brought in-line with the latest 20051228 build.

Collectively - the 20051228 build represents:

  • Complete implementation of component driven context solution.
  • A internal composition strategy based on part management.
  • Active management of components using a formal state model.
  • Remote management of the resource layer.
  • Remote management of runtime components.
  • A system supporting the management of process clusters.

In detail ...

A lot of effort has gone into Transit consolidation resulting a single clean configuration model, a command line tool supporting local and remote Transit configuration, and the addition of two bootstrap protocol handlers - one dealing with access to RMI registry resource, and a second dealing with local preferences. Other Transit updates include improvements to the default logging format to include a JVM process identifier, improvements to the content handler implementation, improvements to the plugin service with the addition of support for primitive arguments in plugin constructors (such as int, boolean, float, etc.). Available layout strategies have been updated to include a 'modern' layout that delivers broader repository compatibility.

The util package has received a general cleanup and the system classloader has been improved to provide better support for system level classloader entries.

The Depot package has incorporated Janel application handler - improving integration within the Win32 environment.

The DPML Station is included as a core element of the overall platform with support for multi-JVM deployment, runtime management and teardown. An NT service has been included in the distribution together with a command line tool supporting comprehensive management of multiple applications - covering application startup, restart, shutdown, querying, execution of dynamic management operations, component state management, station long term persistence control, and general station startup and shutdown support.

Metro has evolved to include a formal component composition API, a formal state management system, long-term storage of descriptors and directives compliant with JSR-57, and a full implementation of inner context class based requirements declaration.

26 August 2005 - Crystal XP Icons

Permission to use icons and graphics from the Crystal XP Alien collection and redistribution under ASL 2.0 as part of the Depot product has been granted by the author Overlord59. Crystal XP is entirely devoted to the customization of Windows XP under the Crystal style created by everaldo. The Crystal XP site provides Tux, Icons, Penguins, Wallpapers, Visual Styles, PNG Icons, BricoPack, Everaldo icons, Software, Skins, a big forum... and more.

23 August 2005 - Janel Project License.

Janel is an open-source Java Launcher for Windows developed by Tim Kil. The launcher provides excellent integration between the Windows OS environment and Java applications and is used within the DPML Depot application. Tim Kil announced today that the DPML may redistribute Janel under ASL 2.0 thereby maintaining our single license coverage.

26 July 2005 - Milestone Release.

A milestone release 20050726 has been prepared with final version of Transit and Magic and development versions of Depot and Metro. A binary distribution of of Depot is available (which includes Transit) and built-in support for Magic and Metro installs.

22 July 2005 - Ibiblio extends support for the DPML.

Ibiblio extends it ongoing support for the DPML infrastructure with the addition of virtual hosting for the training content and related resources.

8 July 2005 - Niclas and Peter head off to launch OPS4J.

With a focus on the development of the "Open Participation Model" Niclas and Peter launch an independent initiative - OPS4J (OPS4J stands for Open Participation Software for Java). The DPML wish to thank Peter for his contribution to the infrastructure and Niclas for his work on the development of the Transit product.

26 June 2005 - Claude Bernard Diesse joins the DPML Team.

While studying existing containers solutions and their related development framework, looking for technical characteristics such as IOC, SOA, JMX, service, remoting etc., capabilities. Avalon Merlin container seems to present on the paper, the most potential. Following, Merlin become Metro and the present development (codename Freight Train) is presenting itself as the platform of choice.

Claude joins DPML community to work on what will be the supporting environment of his dream's project.

21 June 2005 - Berlios Sponsors DPML.

The Berlios project aggress to provide essential infrastructure services to the DPML as part of their ongoing commitment to world-wide open-source initiatives.

15-20 March 2005 - Fishing for new ideas at DPML.

Stephen, Niclas and Peter met up in Kuala Lumpur/ Malaysia to discuss several issues regarding Metro and SCAN COIN's ISO8583 Metro wrapping. Beside work, there is as always the issue of leisure:

8 March 2005 - JetBrains donates an IDEA license.

Today JetBrains s.r.o., with HQ in Czech Republic, approved to donate a license of their integrated development environment IDEA for DPML development use. The license will be limited to the development of DPML projects only. This initiative will allow us further choice for the individual developer as well as an opportunity for integration of Transit and Magic into the IDEA platform. More info can be found on the Sponsors page.

7 March 2004 - Atlassian donates a JIRA license.

Today Atlassian Software Systems Pty Ltd, Australia, donated a license of their Issuetracking tool JIRA for public DPML issuetracking use. We would like to thank Atlassian for this offer, and we hope that the issuetracking on http://issues.dpml.net/dpml will become a widely used tool for our every day operations. The JIRA installation is not yet completed and more info on that will follow in due time. More info can be found on the Sponsors page.

30 Nov 2004 - Cenqua donates a Clover license.

Today Cenqua Pty Ltd, Australia, donated a license of their Test Coverage tool Clover for DPML development use. The license is not limited in time, and covers all developers while working on DPML published codebases. We wish to thank Cenqua very much for this gesture, and you can find a small banner on the web site promoting Clover as a token of our appreciation. More info can be found on our new Sponsors page. Please note that for non-DPML projects, DPML developers will need to get another license, which means purchase if the project is commercial.

15 Oct 2004 - Founders announce the formation of DPML.

Today the the founding members of the DPML announced its existence, first and foremost to the other users of Avalon. Announcement can be found here.

13 Oct 2004 - More People join DPML.

Many people is showing their dedication and becomes part of the original founder team. The team is now consisting of (in no particular order);

  • Niclas Hedhman
  • Stephen McConnell
  • Peter Neubauer
  • Timothy Bennett
  • Andreas Oberhack
  • Cameron Fieber
  • David Leangen
  • Marten Osterberg
  • Alexis Agahi
  • Raffael Herzog
30 Sep 2004 - Peter Neubauer joins DPML core team.

Today Peter Neubauer from ScanCoin AB, Sweden joined the founder team of the Digitial Product Meta Library. Peter was instrumental in the initial discussion with Niclas Hedhman of the formation of the Open Participation Software concept, now present in DPML.

28 Sep 2004 - Digital Product Management Laboratory.

Niclas Hedhman and Stephen McConnell establish the Digital Product Management Laboratory, with the flagship products of;

  • Magic - Ant extension, that brings model driven build systems to a new level.
  • Transit - Central Repository and Jar Management system.
  • Metro - Advanced Service/Component oriented runtime platform.