Does Apache Tomcat community support both Apache Tomcat 5.5.x and 6.0.x on JAVA 6?

posted by SpringSource on October 27, 2009 02:11 PM

Understanding the role of the community, ASF, and Enterprise Tomcat vendors

Yes, bothTomcat 5.5.x and 6.0.x are thoroughly tested by the ASF community. Community testing is both ad hoc, that is, community users testing the new versions on their existing applications, as well as via the Java Community Process Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for the corresponding Servlet and JSP specifications. You can find high level information on the TCK program at:

http://jcp.org/en/resources/tdk#_ctt

TCK is licensed by Sun for validation. While you could license the relevant TCK for your environment, we would not recommend it as these tests are thoroughly exercised by the community on multiple configurations before an Apache Tomcat release is finalized.

In addition to the testing provided by the community, enterprise tomcat vendors that provide professional support to Apache Tomcat apply their own Quality Assurance processes to any Apache release before it is released as a supported product. In the case of SpringSource, this testing provides extended functional coverage, on load/stress scenarios as well as across a broader range of supported configurations than is typically tested by the community at large.

You can be assured that the combination of community, ASF and vendor testing provides you with an enterprise class Tomcat.  However, when upgrading to any new release, we strongly encourage Tomcat customers to use strong internal processes including acceptance tests for new releases of any infrastructure software.

For more than 10 years, SpringSource employees have been supporting Apache technologies, with unparalleled experience and commitment to the Apache Software Foundation. More than 400 of the Fortune 500 count on SpringSource to support their mission-critical business applications. Leaders of the Apache Software Foundation, including Board Members, work at SpringSource and dedicate a significant amount of time further developing the Apache Tomcat open source project. Over the last 2 years, 95% of the issues fixed in the Apache Tomcat project were fixed by SpringSource engineers. For more information on how SpringSource can help your enterprise, see the SpringSource website, or call 800/444-1935.