OpenLogic BlueGlue 3.3
Simply put, BlueGlue is to J2EE development what RedHat is to the Linux operating system. Beyond a simple installation tool, BlueGlue is a system for managing 120 different open source projects. The idea behind BlueGlue (this had it's genesis in the Out-of-the-Box project) is to be a central authority of open source software, handling installation, conflicts, configuration, and even updates. The included applications fall in the categories of client, collaboration, Internet, J2EE, servers, database, documentation programming, Eclipse plug-ins, IDE, testing, XML, source code management, and more.
Using BlueGlue
These categories are collectively called "stacks" and you can either select a stack and install everything, or create your own stacks to simplify management. Otherwise, you can browse through the projects. By clicking on any project, you will get a description of that project, a link to it's Web site, some notes, a list of dependencies of that project, resources about that project (such as books and Web sites) and even "gotchas." Additionally, you can use a search function and a filter to help you find projects based on licenses.
Figure 2. Browsing Through the Projects
The free version of BlueGlue is fully functional, so you can test it out and see if you like the way it works. I did. Everything about the process of using BlueGlue was straightforward (remember if you use Windows, unzip the contents of your download to a directory without spaces or you will get an error—this is a Java issue). Installation of BlueGlue itself was smooth, selecting the projects I wanted was easy. Installing Eclipse and all its plug-ins was also a treat, and overdue for me as well (though in honesty this is a bit different than a thick stack of server and middleware applications...).
If I had needed to enter configuration parameters during the installation of any projects, BlueGlue would have alerted me to that. It also would not have let me continue if I unchecked a project that was listed as a dependency of a project that I was installing. Also, once everything is installed, BlueGlue will actually test the installation to make sure everything is working correctly—you can view these results
The free version only includes Eclipse and 27 of the main plugins (the full application than has the additional 90-odd applications). Each of these plugins has it’s own Web site. Without BlueGlue, you would have to check each site for new versions—in addition to checking up on Eclipse to see when new versions are available and read blogs to find out if they are stable or not (or discover for yourself). I will use the Eclipse through BlueGlue from now on because I don’t have the time for these other hassles.
Managing with BlueGlue
Once you've installed your applications, you will want to manage updates. This management can be centralized through OpenLogic, which is part of the subscription—using the BlueGlue service—including the application—is an annual $399.00 subscription. The BlueGlue Update Manager alerts you when BlueGlue updates are available and includes updates to the projects within the alert. Finally, OpenLogic provides technical support and sample applications for you to get acquainted with these projects.
This product opens up the possibility of using open source for people who previously didn't have the time. If you ever build a project on top of some of the open source stack that is in BlueGlue, I would certainly recommend it.
More Time to Develop
Finally, it looks like some order is coming to the open source world. Both MyJavaPack and especially BlueGlue will help developers to spend less time installing, playing with conflicts, managing updates...and more time just developing.
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