Built on a modular kernel powered by OSGi, GlassFish runs straight on top of the Apache Felix implementation. It also runs with Equinox OSGi or Knopflerfish OSGi runtimes. HK2 abstracts the OSGi module system to provide components, which can also be viewed as services. Such services can be discovered and injected at runtime.
October 2003 - Sun Microsystems released Sun ONE Application Server 7 [4][5] that supports the J2EE 1.3 specification. It is based on the iPlanet Web Server and the J2EE reference implementation[6] A basic version is free to download, but not open source.
March 2004 - Sun Microsystems released Sun Java System Application Server 8[7] that supports the J2EE 1.4 specification. In June 2004 update 1 is released.[8] A basic version is free to download, but not open source.
8 February 2005 - Sun Microsystems released Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 that supports the J2EE 1.4 specification. This version introduced a major update to web services security (a precursor to the later JASPIC and Jakarta Authentication), Admin Console GUI enhancements, JavaServer Faces 1.1 Support (at this point not yet part of J2EE), performance enhancements, and support for Java SE 5.0.[9] A basic version is free to download, but not open source.
6 June 2005 - Sun Microsystems launched the GlassFish project by publishing the vetted source of Sun Java System Application Server.[10][11] Builds of this early version identity themselves in the log as "sun-appserver-pe9.0".[12]
31 January 2006 - Sun Microsystems released Sun Java System Application Server 8.2.[13] This version introduced bundling of the Derby database and Fast Infoset for web services.[14] A basic version is free to download, but not open source.
4 May 2006 - Project GlassFish released the 1.0 version (a.k.a. Sun Java System Application Server 9.0) that supports the Java EE 5 specification.
15 May 2006 - Sun Java System Application Server 9.0, derived from GlassFish 1.0, is released.[15]
17 September 2007 - the GlassFish community released version 2.0 (a.k.a. Sun Java System Application Server 9.1) with full enterprise clustering capabilities, Microsoft-interoperable Web Services.
21 January 2009 - Sun Microsystems and the community released version GlassFish 2.1 (a.k.a. Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1) which serves as the basis for the Sailfin 1.0 (a.k.a. Sun Communication Application Server 1.0).
28 October 2009 - SailFin 2.0 (a.k.a. Sun Communication Application Server 2.0) was released which leverages GlassFish 2.1.1 (a.k.a. Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1.1) and adds a number of features including high availability, rolling upgrade, flexible network topology, better overload protection, Diameter support, improved diagnosability, Java based DCR files for the load balancer, and more.
10 December 2009 - GlassFish 3.0 (a.k.a. Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server 3.0) was released. Being the Java EE reference implementation, this was the first application server to completely implement Java EE 6 JSR 316. JSR 316 was however approved with reservations.[17] In this version GlassFish adds new features to ease migration from Tomcat to GlassFish.[18] The other main new features are around modularity (GlassFish v3 Prelude already shipped with an Apache FelixOSGi runtime), startup time (a few seconds), deploy-on-change (provided by NetBeans and Eclipse plugins), and session preservation across redeployments.[19]
25 March 2010 - Soon after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Oracle issued a Roadmap for versions 3.0.1, 3.1, 3.2 and 4.0 with themes revolving around clustering, virtualization and integration with Coherence and other Oracle technologies. The open source community remains otherwise unaffected.
28 February 2011 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 3.1. This version introduced support for ssh-based provisioning, centralized admin, clustering and load-balancing. It maintains its support for both the Web Profile and full Java EE 6 Platform specifications.
28 July 2011 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 3.1.1. This is fix release for GlassFish 3.1 with multiple component updates (Weld, Mojarra, Jersey, EclipseLink, ...), JDK 7 support, AIX support and more.
29 February 2012 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 3.1.2. This release includes bug fixes and new features including administration console enhancements, transaction recovery from a database and new thread pool properties.
17 July 2012 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 3.1.2.2. This is a "micro" release to address some exceptional issues in the product.[20]
9 September 2014 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 4.1. This release includes many bug fixes (over a thousand) and the latest MR releases of CDI and WebSockets.[22]
7 October 2015 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 4.1.1. This release includes many bug fixes and security fixes as well as updates to many underlying components.[23]
31 March 2017 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 4.1.2. This release includes bug fixes.[24]
21 September 2017 - Oracle Corporation released GlassFish 5.0. This release includes Java EE 8 Open Source Reference Implementation and that the Java EE 8 umbrella specification and all the underlying specifications (JAX-RS 2.1, Servlet 4.0, CDI 2.0, JSON-B 1.0, Bean Validation 2.0, etc.) are finalized and approved.[25]
29 January 2019 - the Eclipse Foundation released GlassFish 5.1. This release is technically identical to Oracle's GlassFish 5.0 but is fully build from the source code that Oracle transferred to the Eclipse Foundation and which was subsequently relicensed to EPL. Like GlassFish 5.0, 5.1 is Java EE 8 certified, but does not have any RI status. The main goal of this release is to prove that all source code has been transferred and can indeed be built into a fully compliant product.[26]
31 December 2020 - the Eclipse Foundation released GlassFish 6.0.0. This version is functionally largely identical to GlassFish 5.1 but implements Jakarta EE 9.[27] Jakarta EE 9 is functionally identical to Jakarta EE 8 (which is functionally identical to Java EE 8) but has its package and various constants changed from javax.* to jakarta.*
5 May 2021 - the Eclipse Foundation released GlassFish 6.1.0. This version is functionally identical to GlassFish 6.0.0 but implements Jakarta EE 9.1. Jakarta EE 9.1 is functionally identical to Jakarta EE 9 (which is functionally identical to Jakarta EE 8 and Java EE 8) but has support for JDK 11. This release requires JDK 11.
28 August 2021 - the Eclipse Foundation released GlassFish 6.2.1. This version has improved support for JDK 17 and includes a new component Eclipse Exousia, the standalone Jakarta Authorization implementation. GlassFish 6.2.1 compiles with JDK 11 to JDK 17
14 December 2022 - the Eclipse Foundation released GlassFish 7.0.0. This is the first version containing larger refactoring and code cleanup, large amount of bugfixes and also new features.[28] Implements new Jakarta Concurrency specification, and supports JDK 11 but recommends usage of JDK17.
Roadmap and end of Oracle commercial support[edit]
The commercially supported version of GlassFish was known as Oracle GlassFish Server,[29] formerly Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server, and previously Sun Java System Application Server (SJSAS) has a history, along with other iPlanet software, going back to Netscape Application Server. This includes code from other companies such as Oracle Corporation for TopLink Essentials. Ericsson's SIP Servlet support is included, the opensource version of it is SailFish, developing towards JSR-289.[30] In 2010, the difference between the commercial and open source edition was already quite small.[30]
On 4 November 2013, Oracle announced the future roadmap for Java EE and Glassfish Server, with a 4.1 open-source edition planned and continuing open-sources updates to GlassFish but with an end to commercial Oracle support.[31][32] Commercial customers have instead been encouraged to transition to Oracle's alternative product, Oracle WebLogic Server.
In response to Oracle’s announcement to end commercial support for GlassFish, a fork called Payara Server was created and released in October 2014. Payara Server is open source under the same licenses as GlassFish, but has optional commercial support.
Open-source GlassFish continued under Oracle till version 5.0 (the reference implementation for Java EE 8) after which the source code was donated to the Eclipse Foundation,[33] which released the technically identical but relicensed version 5.1.[26] At Eclipse, Payara is leading the GlassFish project, with support from Oracle and Red Hat.[2]
A GlassFish 5.2 release was planned as a Jakarta EE 8 compatible implementation, but was never released. Jakarta EE 8 is functionally identical to Java EE 8, but was created via the Eclipse Foundation Specification Process (EFSP).[34]
The GlassFish 7 development was sponsored to a large degree[35] by the Estonian company OmniFish, which also provides commercial support for GlassFish once again.[36][37]
