Apache Olingo Java Library Graduates to Top-Level Project
On Tuesday, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) sent out a graduation announcement of sorts. The Apache Olingo project, which provides generic Java and JavaScript libraries designed to implement the OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData), has had a status upgrade from Incubator to Top-Level-Project (TLP).
Olingo is a standardized protocol for creating and consuming data APIs. By implementing OData, which is REST-based and uses HTTP, AtomPub and JSON, Olingo is able to use uniform resource identifiers (URIs) to connect with feed resources. The aim is to simplify the querying and sharing of data across disparate apps in the enterprise, the cloud, and on mobile devices. Using OData makes it possible for Olingo to provide a uniform way to expose full-featured data APIs.
Olingo works with browser-based used interfaces, which use it to query data on servers. But it's also used to synch data to mobile devices and exchange data among server systems. Olingo is part of the technical foundation of SAP's NetWeaver Gateway technology and other enterprise solutions.
Olingo extensions contain additional features, such as the support of Java Persistence API (JPA) or annotated bean classes. The project's documentation, wiki and tutorials highlight several examples of implementing a custom OData service, including a sample Web application built with Apache Maven that can be deployed to any Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (JEE)-compliant Web application server, such as Apache Tomcat.
Olingo joined the Apache Incubator in July 2013 with a combination of Java server libraries for OData 2.0 provided by SAP, and Java client libraries for OData 3.0 and JavaScript libraries for OData 3.0 from Microsoft's Open Technologies group (MS Open Tech). Since joining the incubator, the Olingo project has produced three releases, which resulted from the work of 20 individual contributors responsible for 495,107 lines of code and 1,102 commits.
"OData v4 recently became an OASIS standard that is increasingly opening up data for an open Web," said Eduard Koller, senior program manager at MS Open Tech, in a statement. "Apache Olingo is open source software to aid in the production of OData v4.0 clients and servers in both Java and JavaScript. The project brings together several companies and community developers and we look forward to welcoming more users and contributors to the community."
Acceptance as a TLP, which is based on a voting process within the organization, means that Olingo has won a place among such projects as the Apache HTTP Server, the Tomcat Java app server, Hadoop, the Lucene search engine and OpenOffice. Graduation, as the Foundation puts it, signifies "that the project's community and products have been well-governed under the ASF's meritocratic process and principles." Every Apache TLP has a project management committer (PMC) and a chair. An incubator project could also graduate to a subproject of an existing TLP.
The ASF's Incubator is a temporary container project that is the official gateway to mainstream Foundation activity. All potential Apache projects start in the Incubator, which gives the Foundation a chance to scrutinized them, make sure they meet the ASF's legal standards (it's a 501(c)3 non-profit organization), and help them to adopt Apache procedures.
Posted by John K. Waters on April 9, 2014