Apache Tomcat 7.0, the latest version of the popular open source Java Web server, is available Tuesday from the Apache Software Foundation.
The upgrade constitutes the first major release of the project since 2006. To ease Web framework integration, version 7.0 implements the Java Servlet 3.0, JavaServer Pages 2.2 and Expression Language 2.2 specifications.
[ Version 7.0 of Tomcat was discussed at last fall's ApacheCon conference. See InfoWorld's report. ]
Also, memory leak detection has been improved in version 7.0. "That functionality will help developers avoid problems in the [Java Virtual Machine] and the third-party libraries they might be using that can often trigger [memory leaks] on application reloads," said Mark Thomas, a member of the Tomcat project management committee at Apache.
Tomcat, Thomas said, offers the benefit of being lightweight and it gets the job done. "It does what developers want it to do, and it does it reliably. They want it to run their Web applications," he said.
Tomcat 7.0 simplifies writing and deploying of complex Web applications, offering out-of-the-box support for development features that would otherwise require manual coding, the foundation said.
Introduced 10 years ago, Apache Tomcat has been downloaded more than 10 million times, Apache said. It forms the basis of commercial products from such companies as MuleSoft and the SpringSource unit of VMware, Thomas said.
Version 7.0 is offered under the Apache Software License v2.0 at the Tomcat Web page.
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