[wtp-pmc] Recommendation to use org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api

[David M Williams <david_williams@xxxxxxxxxx>]

As promised in last PMC meeting, here's
the follow up note about using the 
org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api 
bundle from the Eclipse Project. 

This is, basically, 3rd party code they
ship, but now ship in a manner that 
can not be "re-used" directly.
 This  is a "bundlized" version of the servlets.jar
(version 4.1.30) available Apache Jakarta (http://tomcat.apache.org/).


I have attached a long description,
and background, and reference links which I will also attach to 
our "IP Bugzilla" item, and
ask Janet for how she would like to handle. 
I do not think we need to (re)submit
a contribution questionnaires, since the 
Eclipse Project has, but I think we
simply need to state that we intend to 
also (re)use that third party content,
that the Eclipse Project is already re-distributing. 



I also suggest we handle our tracking
of items like this in our IP Log (we still use that, right?) 
with a section similar to the following
... in fact, I've checked this text into "head", but, we can

back-out if there's disagreement or
concerns. Oh, and I might note, we just "include" this 
content from Equinox during our build
... we do not have a duplicate copy of it in our CVS repository. 


<h2>3rd Party IP provided by other
Eclipse projects</h2>

      <table border="1">
    <tr>
        <td>Software</td>
        <td>Version</td>
        <td>License</td>
        <td>Other
Eclipse project or  component</td>
        <td>Notes</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td>org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api</td>
        <td>1.0.0</td>
        <td>Apache
1.1</td>
        <td>The
Eclipse Project (Equinox component)</td>
        <td>This
is a "bundle-ized" version of the servlets.jar 4.1.30 from Apache
Jakarrta.</td> 
    </tr>
</table> 




As background:

We in WTP have been "piggy backing" on some "internal" functionality
that was in the base Eclipse Help system -- it is related to Apache Tomcat, and
has long been part of the Eclipse help system (for several releases).

As of Eclipse 3.2, RC1, that "internal" functionality is no
longer visible "externally", since some parts of that visibility
were causing problems with adopters of Eclipse.

But, if we can not re-use it, as we have been, then there's a number of
WTP functions that would be impossible ... the two known ones are
web services explorer, and some functions of JSP Editing, that
depends on analyzing taglibs.

I've captured the main technical issues in bug
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=136954
(and the bugs it refers to) if anyone wants to read more of the
background.

Recommendation:

The recommended solution is for us to in WTP to regain this functionality,
by re-distributing the org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api that is provided by
the base Eclipse Project. This bundle (plugin, jar) is the same code as
the servlets.jar that is (still) shipped in some form in the Eclipse Help system,
but it has been "repackaged" to fit into the OSGi bundle framework.
But, again, now this third party code is "internal" to the help system and can not be re-used
(directly) by others.


References:

In CVS, this org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api bundle can be found at
http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api/

Its current about.html file is
http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api/about.html?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

As explained in the 'about file', this code is
<quote>
... subject to the terms and conditions of the Apache Software License 1.1 which is available at
<a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1";>http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-1.1</a>.
</quote>



Most of what's in CVS is simply binary code, but there are some DTDs and XML Schema's shipped as
part of this code. The text versions can be viewed at

http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api/javax/servlet/resources/
        web-app_2_2.dtd
        web-app_2_3.dtd

http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.equinox.servlet.api/javax/servlet/jsp/resources/
        jspxml.dtd
        jspxml.xsd
        web-jsptaglibrary_1_1.dtd
        web-jsptaglibrary_1_2.dtd


I call these out specifically because

A. They do contain copyright statements, and

B. We, in WTP, have submitted other contribution
questionnaires asking to re-distribute these DTDs and
XML Schema's (plus, a few other, related, more recent versions).
So, just wanted to be explicit about the partial overlap
and the partial duplication in requests.