Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 8 SDK - Release Notes

These Release Notes provide the latest information about Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 8 SDK and Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 8 Web Profile SDK. The following topics are discussed:

Distributions and Their Components

The following distributions are available and include the components listed:

• Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 8 (Java EE 8) SDK
  • GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0
  • Java EE 8 Tutorial
  • Your First Cup: An Introduction to the Java EE Platform
  • Java EE 8 Samples
  • Java EE 8 API Documentation
• Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 8 (Java EE 8) Web Profile SDK
  • GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0 Web Profile
  • Java EE 8 Tutorial
  • Your First Cup: An Introduction to the Java EE Platform
  • Java EE 8 Samples
  • Java EE 8 API Documentation

The GlassFish OSE Server release notes are available by clicking this link: GlassFish Open Source Server, Release Notes (PDF). You should read this document as well as any late-breaking updates, on this page. You will find additional information by browsing to: GlassFish 5 Product Documentation and User Guides. Visit the Java EE 8 SDK Downloads page for more information about each distribution. See the Java EE 8 SDK Installation Instructions for installation information.

What's New

New in Java EE 8 SDK

GlassFish is the Reference Implementation for Java EE. Java EE 8 introduces the JSON Binding API (JSON-B) for mapping between JSON text and Java objects, building on the JSON Processing API (JSON-P). Servlet has been enhanced with the additional support for HTTP/2 protocol. JAX-RS adds support for server-sent events and, building on concurrency facilities added in Java SE 8, a reactive client API. The new Java EE Security API provides enhanced support for authentication and authorization in web modules, and also introduces APIs for access to identity stores. Bean Validation is updated to reflect enhancements made in Java SE 8 and to extend the range of validated objects.

The Java EE SDK included new material in the Tutorial, as well as new Samples that will help you learn and use these new features.

All of Java EE component projects are now hosted at GitHub. You will find the GlassFish Open Source Project at it's new home: javaee.github.io/glassfish. You will find a table, listing the locations and web-pages for all the Java EE component projects by browsing to javaee.github.io.

GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0

This link provides a list of bugs fixed in since the GlassFish 5.0 (Java EE 8) release: GlassFish 5.0 bugs fixed.

GlassFish Server Open Source Edition provides a server for the development and deployment of Java EE applications and web technologies. The Java EE 8 SDK bundles include GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0 distributions. Those distributions implement Java EE 8 technologies.

Java EE 8 carries forwards the concept of profiles. A profile is a collection of Java EE technologies and APIs that address specific developer communities and application types. The following profiles are implemented through the GlassFish Server distributions:

• Full Platform. This profile is implemented in GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0. It is installed as part of the Java EE 8 SDK installation. This profile is designed for developers who need the full set of Java EE APIs for enterprise application development.

• Web Profile. This profile is implemented in GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0 Web Profile. It is installed as part of the Java EE 8 Web Profile SDK installation. This profile contains web technologies that are part of the full platform and is designed for developers who do not need the full set of Java EE APIs.

Resources

The following resources in the Java EE 8 SDK and Java EE 8 Web Profile SDK will help you get started with Java EE 8.

• Your First Cup: An Introduction to the Java EE Platform provides a short tutorial for beginning Java EE programmers that shows how to develop a simple enterprise application from scratch. The sample application consists of four main components: a JAX-RS RESTful web service, an enterprise bean, a Java Persistence API entity, and a web application created with JavaServer Faces Facelets technology.
• The Java EE 8 Tutorial is a guide to developing enterprise applications for GlassFish Server. The tutorial includes working examples and instructions for creating applications with new and updated Java EE 8 technologies, including Java API for WebSocket, Java API for JSON Processing, Batch Applications for the Java Platform, Concurrency Utilities for Java EE, Java Message Service, Java Servlets, JavaServer Faces, RESTful Web Services, Enterprise JavaBeans, Java Persistence API, Contexts and Dependency Injection for Java EE, and more. The tutorial is also available through Update Tool.
• Java EE 8 Samples demonstrate Java EE 8 technologies and help you learn more about them. After installation, Samples are located in the install-dir/glassfish/samples/javaee8 directory. See the index.html file in that location for more information about the samples.
• Java EE 8 API Documentation provides API reference documentation for the packages and related APIs that make up the Java EE 8 platform. This documentation is generated from the source code by the Javadoc tool. After installation, the bundled API documentation can be accessed from install-dir/glassfish/docs/api/index.html.

The following resources will help you get started with GlassFish Server Open Source Edition and make the most of its capabilities.

• Quick Start Guide (PDF) helps you become familiar with GlassFish Server Open Source Edition and explains how to perform basic tasks such as starting the server, accessing the Administration Console, and deploying a sample application. The guide pertains to both GlassFish Server Open Source Edition and GlassFish Server Open Source Edition Web Profile.

• GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0 Release Notes (PDF) provide the latest information about GlassFish Server Open Source Edition, including what's new, known issues, and pointers to additional resources.

• Product Documentation page provides links for detailed information about GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 5.0 in PDF format.

System Requirements

Java EE 8 SDK Update 1 distributions require JDK 8 Update 144 or above. Generally, Oracle recommends using the latest JDK available. Please note: Java 9 is not supported at this time.

Ensure that the required JDK software is installed on your system and that the JAVA_HOME environment variable points to the JDK installation directory, not the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) software.

The minimum and recommended memory and disk space requirements are as follows:

• Minimum memory: 1 GB
• Recommended memory: 2 GB for Windows platforms, 1 GB for non-Windows platforms
• Minimum disk space: 250 MB
• Recommended disk space: 500 MB

Known Issues and Limitations

Please see the GlassFish Server, OSE Release for important updates, regarding the following issues:

• JAX-B and JAX-WS are no longer part of the Java EE Platform (PDF)
• The binary (native package) installer is no longer provided, but is still described in the GlassFish installation guide. (PDF)
• Resource validation property is enabled by the JVM option for deployment (PDF)
• Update Tool and 'pkg' command are no longer provided (PDF)
• Java DB has been replaced by Apache Derby (PDF)

In addition,

• Java EE Samples should not be used as a template for production code

Description

Sample code in the Java EE Samples has been provided to assist developers in understanding Java functionality. This code has been deliberately simplified and does not take security considerations into account.

Workaround

Do not use the sample code in the Java EE 8 Samples as a template for any production code.

For the complete report about this issue, see 12652086.