[JXTA discuss] JXTA JSE 2.4 "Umqhusho" Beta Release

Community Members,

The next release of JXTA Java SE, 2.4 "Umqhusho", is scheduled for June 
20th. This release will contain several enhancements to JXTA Java SE 
along with a small number of important bug fixes.

A Beta test version of JXTA Java SE 2.4 is now available. This Beta test 
is likely very close to what the final stable release will be. If you 
have not been following the daily builds then now would be a very good 
time to test the upcoming release with your applications.

This is a Beta release. It is possible (and perhaps likely) that bugs 
still remain. It's critical that we find and fix those bugs before the 
official final release. Your input is essential in this task!

How to get involved :

1. Build the beta from the CVS tag "JXTA_JAVA_2_4b" or download prebuilt 
binaries from: <http://download.jxta.org/build/release/2.4b>

2. Rebuild your applications with JXTA Java SE 2.4 Beta.

3. Test with your applications.

4. File bugs, propose patches, comment on <mailto:[email protected]>

The JXTA Java SE Release Team


Acknowledgments
=======================================================================
Special thanks to all of the community members who have contributed 
ideas, reported problems, provided patches, and have helped greatly to 
improve the quality, and robustness of this release.


JXTA "Bug Day" Online Chat
======================================================================
On Thursday June 15th, 2006 from 7:30am to 12:30pm PDT 
(2006-06-15T15:30-2006-06-15T20:30 UTC) the JXTA dev teams will be
participating in an online chat devoted to the upcoming JXTA-C, JXTA 
J2ME (JXME) and JXTA Java SE releases.

If you are having problems with the beta releases, have questions for 
the developers or just want to say hello and see what's happening please 
stop by!

Connect via the myJXTA2 application which you can download from :

http://download.jxta.org/build/release/2.4b/jxta-myjxta-2.4b.zip

Or easier yet, just run it using Java Web Start from:

http://download.java.net/jxta/build/milestone/j2se/2.4b/jnlp/myjxta.jnlp


New Features & Significant Changes
======================================================================
- Improvements to Configuration Features


Improvements to Configuration Features
--------------------------------------
The configuration features of JXTA JSE have been improved significantly 
on a couple of different fronts.

The ext.config package has been improved and made more robust and 
reliable. We've also simplified the creation of XML profiles and 
provided more templates.

A new minimal configuration API has been also introduced. It does not 
provide all of the flexibility of ext.config, but for many developers it 
may be a good choice. Check out the javadoc for 
net.jxta.platform.NetworkConfigurator for more information.

Somewhat related to configuration, two new classes WorldPeerGroupFactory 
and NetPeerGroupFactory have been introduced which make it easier to 
start JXTA and provide applications greater control over private peer 
group creation and configuration management.


Downloading and Installing
======================================================================
Prebuilt JXTA Java SE 2.4 builds can be installed from :

<http://download.jxta.org/build/release/2.4b>

You can also build from cvs, refer to the following URL on how to build 
from CVS in general.

<http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Jxta/BuildingJXTA>

Remember to set cvs.version property to "JXTA_JAVA_2_4b" for this beta 
release, the command should be like this:

ant -f bootstrap.xml -Dcvs.version="JXTA_JAVA_2_4b"


Known incompatibilities between JXTA 2.4 and prior JXTA 2.x releases
======================================================================

- none


JXTA JSE 2.4 Dependencies
======================================================================

- Java Standard Edition 5.0 Compatible VM (http://java.sun.com)
- Log4J 1.2.13 (http://logging.apache.org)
- BouncyCastle 1.31 (http://www.bouncyCastle.org)
- Servlet 2.3 (http://java.sun.com)
- Jetty 4.2.24 (http://jetty.mortbay.com)

For the jxtaext.jar the following are also required for the 
configuration UI it includes :

- JDOM 1.0beta10 (http://www.jdom.org/)
- SwiXML 1.1 (#139) (http://www.swixml.org/)


Known issues in JXTA Java SE 2.4
======================================================================
(TBD)

For a complete list of known issues follow the link:

<http://platform.jxta.org/issues/buglist.cgi?issue_status=NEW&issue_status=STARTED&issue_status=REOPENED&target_milestone=2.4+Umqhusho>