WebWork joining Struts
Yes, it's true. The WebWork development team (Jason and I) have been working with the Struts development team (Don Brown and Ted Husted) and have come to the conclusion that the best thing for Java community would be to merge WebWork in to Struts.
Read Ted's email here, but the gist of it is this: WebWork is a great technology, and Struts is a great community. It's a perfect match and bringing the two together will only be better for WebWork and Struts users alike. The only down side for me is that I'll be working less with OpenSymphony, but I believe that is a small price for all the great benefits that come from this merger.
Just to be clear, WebWork is not going away. WebWork 2.2 is still coming out any day now, and there may even be a WebWork 2.3. But new minor/major versions won't be coming out under the WebWork name for much longer. Instead, they will be released under the Struts incubator program with the intent to eventually become Struts Action Framework 2.0.
So don't worry, WebWork 2.1.8, 2.2.1, and other bug fix releases will continue to come out and we will support the WebWork community as long as needed. In addition, we'll make compatibility with both Struts and WebWork a high priority, so future releases may help with that. To be clear: no one is leaving WebWork and it will continue to be supported for a very long time.
With this renewed energy, larger development team, and larger community, the combined efforts of Struts and WebWork will surely make the Struts platform the easiest, fastest, and most powerful Java web framework available. We hope that all the WebWork users and developers are as excited about this as we are and are ready to take WebWork to the next level.
Comments
That's a GREAT IDEA
Posted by: victor sosa | November 27, 2005 09:19 PM
Congrats Patrick - well done for both Jason and you!
I hope that this means we'll have Webwork's code, and the Struts community, and not the other way around :)
There isn't much talk about Webwork backwards compatibility - is that because Struts will be using Webwork as is, or is that because it hasn't been considered?
Cheers,
Scott
Posted by: Scott Farquhar | November 27, 2005 10:48 PM
There will likely need to be more backwards compatibility work for Struts than WebWork, since the hope is to start with WebWork and add features related to Struts, not the other way around.
Posted by: Patrick Lightbody | November 27, 2005 11:46 PM
Great team, I hope success with this merge.
Dalton Camargo
Posted by: Dalton Camargo | November 28, 2005 11:21 AM
I think is a great idea to join forces and get each framework's strengths. However, I get a little concerned when you say that WebWork and Struts will be made compatible... I'm worried that a bloated frankenstein will come up from such a goal.
Good luck on this new endeavor!
Vítor Souza
Posted by: Vítor Souza | November 28, 2005 01:44 PM
I wonder how this will end up.
Why not also merge with Stripes (http://stripes.mc4j.org/confluence/display/stripes/Home)?
Use the easiness of Stripes, community of Struts and the webwork stuff together to make 1 good framework to compete with JSF!
I still think JSF will rule at the end/begin of 2006/2007!
Posted by: Guest | November 28, 2005 02:39 PM
As someone who has to use Struts from time to time, and who is a closet WebWork fane: Cool!
Posted by: Rick Hightower | November 28, 2005 05:20 PM
(punches fist in the air)
Sweet
Posted by: Bill de hOra | November 28, 2005 11:52 PM
I think it is a bad idea,because struts will disappear in the future,Jsf and Tapestry will replace it.
Posted by: zhukun | November 29, 2005 12:40 AM
Good News: I can use struts in the future.
Bad News:I think many new technology, such as JAXA and JSF, may be the best choice
Posted by: Apollo | November 29, 2005 07:14 AM
真的吗？
webwork和STRUTS的融合，是我最想看道的，看来我们的J2EE大融合时代真的要来临了。
Posted by: 网辉 | November 29, 2005 07:38 AM
I hope this leads for a GREAT cause :).
--
Balakumar Muthu
http://i5bala.blogspot.com
Posted by: Balakumar Muthu | November 29, 2005 01:49 PM
So sad my war is lost. I was kind of against a struts, yet not sure why, just filling in my hart.
Now I will have to go with all that crowd, I dont want to be a part of it, that does not suit me.
You know that was my last attempt to go with somthing what is not born out of specification, if fill like got a slap.
Fu#$%# Patrick, why do you do that, take time, relax and think again. Think what have you done and where will you come to, you like it. I don't think so, have your own opinion, who cares about that silly crowd, be yourself.
Posted by: Remis | November 29, 2005 03:27 PM
very well
Posted by: phoenix | November 30, 2005 12:25 AM
release webwork 2.2 final first :)
Posted by: wangcs | November 30, 2005 01:11 AM
Using intensly Struts and WebWork on 2 different projects, I'm a bit concerned (as many others I think) about this joining forces.
Of course it's a good idea to join forces and benefit from both side advantages, but it could be a disaster if it's missused.
Usually, the bigger leads and the smaller pays the bill. Therefore it's pretty clear for me the Struts Community will lead the futur of WebWork and adapt it to fit into Struts, and not Struts adapting itself to use as-is the power and lightweightness of WebWork. That's one of my main concerns. It would be a pain for all WebWork users if it would be downgraded so that Struts can use it.
A large community is wonderful ... and has bad sides too. The large the community the less flexibility the developpers have to changes things, simply because of backward-compatibility (the nightmare of each developer ;)). So, it's also clear for me this huge Struts community will force changes in WebWork and not in Struts, because first of all WebWork is the "new-commer" and second the community will request backward-compatibility. Frankly speaking, I don't see a compatibility in both Action Frameworks: they simply are different! WebWork being much more flexible.
I guess many users came to WebWork to avoid Strut's complexity and limitations, at least these where my thoughts when I came to use WebWork.
WebWork's destiny is in Jason and Patrick's hands ... hope they will make the right choices for WebWork and above all: keep the power and simplicity of WebWork
Posted by: amenobis | December 1, 2005 02:24 PM
no comment
Posted by: Saeedeh | December 3, 2005 07:59 AM
If WebWork is not going to be continued one day, will it be easy to migrate from WebWork to the new Struts framework?
Posted by: chenyu | December 8, 2005 06:35 AM
So for someone starting up a new project or converting an old project, would it be better to use WebWork or Struts with the goal of forward compatability in mind?
Posted by: daNonymous | December 10, 2005 01:50 AM
I'd suggest using WebWork. The migration path should be very straight forward.
Posted by: Patrick Lightbody | December 10, 2005 04:31 AM
WebWork Joint Struts !!!! man .. are you crazy ??? all this work !!!! it's like .. you know ... jikes join c# team .. or ... the new AJAX framework join the JSF sucks effors !!! this make no sense !!!!!
Posted by: WebWork USER. | December 20, 2005 02:37 PM
It's about time. Webwork needs Struts strong brand to be a viable option, and Struts needs to start differentiating from JSF. Merging a strong brand name with a clean and flexible design should give JSF a run for it's money.
Posted by: ah | February 3, 2006 03:29 AM
In my web site one user has just submited a blog titled : Struts is no more http://www.skillipedia.com/page/index.hm?ownerId=32&bid=114 ! Isn't that a bit confusing ?
Posted by: jukcoder![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.opensymphony.com/webwork/nav-commenters.gif)
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November 10, 2006 07:06 PM
The next logical step would be a merger with Stripes ...
Posted by: daso4![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blogs.opensymphony.com/webwork/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 27, 2006 01:49 PM