Re: [Classpathx-discuss] Re: servlet code

[Jeff Sturm]

On 15 Jun 2001, Per Bothner wrote:
> But libjava cannot accept LGPL run-time code.  I would make an
> exception for code that that by default is configured out (at least on
> platforms without shared libraries), and that depends on other LGPL
> libraries (such as gtk).

Speaking of extensions, it might be helpful to distinguish interface from
implementatation.  It might be reasonable to include javax.servlet in
libgcj-- it's a small footprint and it will help some programs to compile.

But including a full servlet container in libgcj may not be the right
thing to do.  That's already provided by projects such as GNU Paperclips.

Ideally the javax.servlet package would be GPL+exception, like the rest of
libgcj.  I'd be less concerned about the specific license terms of the
servlet container, since it can easily be dynamically loaded once the
right interfaces are in place.

> What I've been experiementing with (as part of my "day job") is
> compiling a pseudo-servlet to a shared library using gcj, and having
> that be loaded by an Apache-2.0 module.  It works, though it is still
> rather primitive.  We think this may be a higher-performance
> general-purpose server that *in addition* can serve servlets fast.

Interesting.  I'd personally like to have the capability to write Apache
modules in java.  It sounds as though you are part way there.

> A true Java-based server as its uses too, of course, for example
> where a larger proportion of a server's logic is Java code.

I've found Jigsaw (for example) better epitomizes Java's capabilities and
the HTTP protocol than most web servers.  Its resource abstraction is far
more flexible than servlets, and there is little or no performance
tradeoff.

It's odd that the pure Java servers aren't more popular than they are.

Jeff