Shibboleth Developers

[Chad La Joie <>]

JDK 1.4 did indeed add a lot, it had non-blocking IO, a new logging 
interface, Java2D, assertions, regular expression, and java web start. 
None of this, I think, is used by OpenSAML.  I don't disagree that JDK 
1.4 was a big step forward, I don't disagree that in it's way, JDK 1.5 
is just as big of a step.  That said, so what?  None of these new 
features brings benefit to OpenSAML, staying at 1.3 does, in the way of 
being able to support the vendors.

As far as Tomcat goes, Tomcat 4 runs on 1.3, 5 runs on 1.4, 5.5 runs on 
1.5 (and Apache still provides support for 4).  But, as I said, while 
Tomcat is almost certainly the most (only?) deployed container for Shib 
right now, it can't remain like that.  We have to keep in mind the 
vendors, because, ultimately, if we don't, Shib becomes nothing more 
than a niche product and a painfully hard sell on our campuses.

That said, maybe there isn't much need for the Java SP to run on 1.3, I 
know at least a few vendors who just implemented an SP themselves (it 
isn't terribly hard to do a simple one).  That's not for me to decide. 
My gut feeling though tells me it probably should.

Tom Scavo wrote:
> On 5/23/05, Chad La Joie 
> <>
>  wrote:
>
> > What restriction?  That it run on 1.3?
>
>
> Absolutely.  If I understand what you're proposing, development of
> OpenSAML and the Java SP would be restricted to JDK 1.3.  That is so
> restrictive.  There was so much added to JDK 1.4 it isn't funny.  It's
> like being thrown back into the dark ages.
>
> I understand what you're talking about.  I've been there.  At my
> previous place of employment, they were stuck on Tomcat 3 despite the
> documented benefits of Tomcat 4 and above.  The wheels of change turn
> slowly in the enterprise, I know.
>
> I can understand OpenSAML, it's core software built on J2SE, but the
> Java SP?  That's J2EE, and the Java SP needs at least Tomcat 4
> (servlet filters).  Anything less is unacceptable.  Will Tomcat 4 run
> atop JDK 1.3?  I'm very skeptical of that.  Even if it could be made
> to work, it's not a natural pairing.  Yuk.
>
> Tom

--
Chad La Joie             315Q St. Mary's Hall
Project Sentinel         202.687.0124