Release planning

[sm@h]

We are currently evaluating the spring-batch framework to see if we can use it in one of our projects. We are already quite convinced that it is/will be a very good framework that fits our needs perfectly. However, our project has to be in production by the beginning of 2008 and this might prevent us from using the framework as spring-batch is obviously very much a work in progress at the moment.

All I could find as far as dates are concerned is that spring-batch 1.0 is scheduled to be released in the spring 2.1 release train. I tried to find a date for the spring 2.1 release, but all I could find that it was once planned to be released in may 2006 and that later on this shifted to june/july 2006. This deadline seems to have been missed royaly as neither spring nor spring-batch seems to even have a RC out at this point in time. Don't worry, this is not a flame, not even a criticism as these things happen to the best of us. However, what surprises me a bit is that there doesn't seem to be a new target date.

I know that it's probably quite difficult for you guys to commit on any dates, but could you please give some kind of indication on where you think spring-batch / spring will be over the next few months? We can probably convince the powers that be to go to production with a RC or even a Milestone if it's stable enough. But a snapshout or an early milestone would probably be taking it one step too far, especially as it means the project would go to production knowing that there is still a significant workload to be expected once spring batch becomes final. (Refactoring our application)

[robert.kasanicky]

Spring 2.1 has been 'rebranded' to Spring 2.5 and should be released in October:

http://blog.interface21.com/main/2007/09/10/spring-framework-21-turns-into-spring-framework-25/

I am not sure this has any implication for Spring-Batch though.

[lucasward]

sm@h,

I can understand your situation, many of the projects I have been working with are wrestling with some of the same issues. One thing that I would like to point out is that, although the code just went public a month or so ago, both Accenture and Interface21 have been using spring batch on projects internally for awhile, to help mature it before making it available publicly. I can't speak for Interface21, but here at Accenture we have one project that has gone live, and 2 or 3 more than plan to go into production before the end of the year. (one is even in system test right now)

In terms of our release schedule, the only really concrete date I can give is that we are shooting to get Milestone 2 out within the next two weeks. After Milestone 2, a lot of what happens depends upon community feedback. If there are a lot of issues brought up that would require heavy refactoring, then I think we would make the changes, even if it required us to push back a little bit. However, personally, I would like to be either at, or very close to a release candidate by the first of the year. In fact, I would prefer to have an rc1 out before the Spring Experience, and I'm hopeful that the long incubation period internally, coupled with actual projects using the framework will help keep the amount of large refactorings down, which would enable us to move towards this goal as quickly as possible.

Another thing I would keep in mind is, how complex does your solution need to be? If it's a fairly straightforward batch system, that would require little custom work (i.e. a custom JobExecutor, or other Execution Service specifics), I wouldn't be too worried. I would also take a look at the our Jira issues (http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/spring/browse/BATCH) to see the kind of refactorings that might take place in the future. Also, if you like, feel free to email me and we can have a quick discussion about your solution, and whether certain aspects of it would be affected by future refactoring efforts prior to RC1.

[gordman]

Patience and trust is the key for everything...