A tale of dueling open source projects for object-relational mapping may be brewing within Eclipse, with similar proposals
floated separately by Versant and Oracle.
Versant on Tuesday proposed that it will lead an effort for standards-based object-relational mapping based on JSR 220. The
specification defines a standard for object-relational mapping in Java. Specifically, the Versant effort is being called the
JSR-220 ORM (object-relational mapping) project within Eclipse.
Key to the endeavor is Versant's plan to offer Versant's Open Access object-relational mapping as an open source tool. With
Open Access, Versant is contributing mapping tools and run times for both the EJB 3.0 and the JDO (Java Data Objects) 2.0
standards. EJB and JDO are being merged over time.
Oracle, however, announced a similar initiative within Eclipse. The company will help build an open source EJB-based object-relational
mapping tool to be available under the Eclipse public license.
"We did not know of Oracle's initiative and I don't believe that Oracle knew of ours," said Robert Greene, vice president
of product strategy at Versant. "At this point they're both proposals and we'll see how we can perhaps work together to consolidate
where it makes sense," Greene said.
Versant believes it has a jump on Oracle because its proposal is based on contributing existing technology, Versant Open Access.
"There is no more commercial version. It's just an open source version," Greene said. "We're basically bringing this standards-based
solution to the mainstream developers now," he said.
The Eclipse Foundation, in a statement from Executive Director Mike Milinkovich, said the foundation was presented with two
similar projects by different sponsors and that occasional overlap is not surprising given interest in Eclipse projects.
"Now that the proposals have been posted, we expect that the teams will discuss whether there should be a merger of the two
or if they will continue separately. This decision will ultimately be up to the developers, not the Eclipse Foundation," Milinkovich
said.
Object-relational mapping represents the future of how Java developers interact with a database, Greene said. "It's much easier
than the old way of doing things, involving a much lower-level access," he said. A developer could build an application and
hook it to the database within minutes, Greene added.
The Eclipse Foundation endorsed the Versant effort. When unveiling its Eclipse effort, Oracle cited endorsements from the
Eclipse Foundation, JBoss, and Sun Microsystems.
Versant issued a statement stating that it is looking forward to working with Oracle, as well as other Eclipse members BEA
Systems and IBM.
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