Eclipse Freshman Project #5: EclipseLink

EclipseLink is project #5 in my series of projects new to the Galileo release train.   For those that might not know,  EclipseLink is based on the very popular TopLink product from Oracle.     Doug Clarke is the EclipseLink project lead.

What does your project do?

EclipseLink provides high performance runtime persistence support for Object-Relational (JPA), Object-XML Binding (JAXB), Service Data Objects (SDO), and Database Web Services (DBWS). These persistence services can be incorporated into Equinox OSGi, RCP, Java EE and Java SE applications.

Who are your typical users?

EclipseLink’s users span all application types, sizes and vertical markets. The contribution of Oracle TopLink’s source to initiate the EclipseLink project gives the EclipseLink community the benefit of a code base that has been used in production Java applications for over 12 years. If an application has persistence requirements, which almost all do, then EclipseLink should be used.

EclipseLink is available today within Oracle’s WebLogic Server and TopLink products, the GlassFish Application Server, and the Spring Framework. Our current install base is primarily Java EE and SE users but we’re seeing growing use of EclipseLink in Equinox/OSGi, RCP, and EMF applications.

Why did you join the Galileo release train? After completing your first release train, what do you think now?

The EclipseLink project joined the Galileo release train as part of a plan to become a key project in the Eclipse ecosystem and address persistence needs of users and other projects. Inclusion in the Galileo release makes EclipseLink available out of the box to all Equinox OSGi developers and to those who download the Eclipse IDE for Java EE developers or the Modeling Tools package. This increased distribution combined with efforts to integrate EclipseLink JPA with EMF in the Teneo project and WTP’s Dali Java Persistence Tools project will help grow our community.

Now that we are near completion of the Galileo release we have learned a lot about what is involved in coordinating such a large and diverse group of open source runtime and tools projects and have developed great respect for both the release train process and those who help keep the train on track for a predictable and high quality release each year. We are very excited about what we have accomplished for Galileo both within our project as well as within the consuming projects and packaging efforts. We look forward to continue growing our involvement in the Eclipse ecosystem and increasing our integration efforts with other projects requiring persistence capabilities or exposing tooling for users to develop their applications.

What future enhancements are you planning for your project?

The EclipseLink project continues to grow and the requests for enhancements continue to roll in. Addressing the needs of our community, expanding our integration capabilities, and continuing to lead persistence standardization activities are at the forefront of our planning. The most noteworthy deliverable in our near future is the Java Persistence 2.0 (JSR 317) reference implementation. Building on our past efforts delivering the Java Persistence 1.0 reference implementation with TopLink Essentials and our recent delivery of the SDO 2.1.1 reference implementation (JSR 235), EclipseLink’s JPA  2.0 implementation will be the first delivery from the Eclipse Foundation of a Java EE specification.

From http://ianskerrett.wordpress.com/