June 24th, 2009
Eclipse Galileo release train now arriving at gate 3.5
Besides death and taxes, there is one other certainty in the life of a software developer: slipping schedules. Every year, though, Eclipse continues to defy that expectation by releasing a major new version in late June. Today, the Eclipse Galileo release train arrived exactly on time, for the 6th year in a row.
Galileo is a synchronized release of 33 separate projects all under the umbrella of the Eclipse Foundation. Over 380 committers from 44 different organizations participated to make this release possible.
Many of the projects in Galileo are tools for developers, for example the Java Development Toolkit, C Development Toolkit, Memory Analyzer, Web Tools, Subversion, and of course the Eclipse Platform (version 3.5). Others are more oriented towards end users such as the Business and Reporting Tools.
For 2009, a new category of projects has coalesced under the name “Eclipse Runtime Technology”. This includes Equinox (Eclipse’s implementation of the OSGi standard), the Eclipse Communication Framework, Rich Ajax Platform, Riena (modular business application platform), Swordfish (SOA framework), and EclipseLink (persistence services).
Another major focus of the 2009 release is modeling tools. New innovations in Galileo include Xtext (for creation of domain specific languages) and Connected Data Objects (distributed shared models with transactions).
“The release train continues to be a great achievement of the Eclipse community,” explained Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation. “Galileo demonstrates that large distributed software development can be done on a predictable schedule. This predictability makes it possible for our user and adopter community to quickly adopt new releases from Eclipse.”
Eclipse Galileo with Eclipse Platform 3.5 is available immediately from the eclipse.org download site. This year, downloads should fly thanks to a partnership with Amazon Web Services. Package sizes range from 79MB to 367MB depending on what components you need.
Related articles:
- Java in the trenches, the Eclipse Way
- The Eclipse Way: Processes that Adapt (2005)
- Eclipse 2008 release train arrives at Ganymede
- NetBeans vs. Eclipse, this time with attitude (2007)
- Eclipse Europa on track for June 29th (2007)
- Countdown to Callisto: An Eclipse singularity (2006)
Ed Burnette is a professional developer and author of several articles and books about computing including Hello, Android: Introducing Google's Mobile Development Platform, 2nd Edition. For disclosure of Ed's industry affiliations, click here or to view his full profile click here.
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