If not Liferay then what? GateIn?
Not so long ago I described new features that are waiting for users and developers in the new version of Liferay 7.0 . People sometimes ask me - why Liferay ? For me, the answer is simple - in the technology stack in which we work (Jave EE plus an open source orientation), I simply don’t see any alternatives.
Yes, we have long been engaged in the implementation of portals on Liferay, but I am not a blind fanatic, and sometimes I try to get out of my world and look around. But what if? Suddenly there is an alternative? Let's look at one of them today — the GateIn portal — a joint production of JBoss and eXo.
Why did I decide to start with GateIn? JBoss (now RedHat) is a company with a long tradition in the world of Open Source and respected in the world of Java EE. She has a whole range of different products - starting, of course, from their famous server (now called WildFly) and ending with niche solutions. If you expect a serious competitor for Liferay, then first of all from their side.
')
So - suppose I do not understand anything in the portals at all - but the boss (or client) gave me the task to find a solution. Where do I start? No - I will not immediately download, install, run - I will start with an external review. I study the product site, read the news and announcements, look in the forums - I will try to understand how the product lives and develops. This will seem a bit strange - but the first thing I’ll pay attention to is whether the manufacturer itself uses its product?
Liferay C is clean - liferay.com’s website is honestly spinning on Liferay itself - ok, the product is so good that its manufacturer has entrusted it with its website, its forums and so on.
And what about GateIn? The website gatein.jboss.org revolves around Magnolia (Magnolia CMS). Well, in the end, the implementation of external sites is not quite the task of the portal, we can forgive him for this. And what about the developer community - developer.jboss.org/en/gatein - oops - Jive. Why not GateIn itself? We write GateIn the first minus - the developer himself (JBoss) chose another solution for himself - this already says a lot.
What about the community? Choosing an open source product is very important to know that you will not stay with him one-on-one, and there are 100,500 other poor people with whom you will not feel so lonely.
Forums on the site developer.jboss.org made a sad impression - the last message in the developer forum - 6 months ago, in the user forum - 3 months ago. The last blog is a year and a half ago. The latest version on the Downloads page is from the 2013th year (if we talk about the Jboss Portal itself) and 2014th year if we talk about the GateIn. Is the product alive at all?
In fact, if it were not for my academic interest, I would end up studying the product. But I am stubborn - but because I still tried to download it.
But let's start with the fact that it is not clear - what to swing? There is GateIn, there is Jboss Portal. What is the difference? What exactly do I need?
If I understand correctly, GateIn is such a community driven project, and then JBoss builds its portal on its basis. Therefore, I decided to immediately start JBoss Portal 6.1.0 build from GateIn 3.6 (release of 2013th year) - the link required me to login or register ... No, I don’t feel sorry, but the chances are that I’ll make it to the final less and less. After login, I got into the depths of the site www.jboss.org/products/portal/get-started where I found out that it turned out to be JBoss Portal 6.2.0 - from the 15th year. It is strange that the site GateIn did not say anything about it. So - I stopped at JBoss Portal 6.2.0
I downloaded, unpacked, looked. Inside JBoss AS 7.5.0, it started up normally. After the start, according to the documentation, I went to the Management Console: http: // localhost: 9990 / - but I was politely told that there were no users yet - and they explained where to go. I went, created - and here I am inside.
It's all regular for Jboss, but practically not interesting from the point of view of the portal. The portal itself is available at http: // localhost: 8080 / portal (at the first launch I asked to change the admin password - conveniently).
I will not go into the details of content management, navigation and other convenient / not convenient. Convenience is a matter of habit — and here I cannot judge objectively — after all, I’m used to Liferay and Jboss will be unusual for me anyway. But consider a number of basic functions (in my understanding). Let's start with the administration.
In Liferay there is such a thing as Portal Instance. This is essentially an opportunity to launch several portals within the same physical application (each on its own domain) - as a result - these portals have a common code (and essentially run within the same Java process) - but different data (users, websites and all other). I did not find this in JBoss Portal - theoretically, this can be implemented through the domains of Jboss AS itself - but this is somewhat different.
There is an opportunity to define the organizational structure (and with several roots - that is, to get not one, but several organizations). The user can be assigned to several elements of the organizational structure with different roles (membership) - everything is also ok here. And even having rummaged, I found how to create your website for any element of the org-structure. It may not be convenient (stop, I promised not to talk about it) - but you can do it.
It is possible to create several sites (Spaces) within one portal - they can be tied as to some element of an org structure - so it is possible to be on their own.
Role-playing, or rather, for a couple - a group (element of org-structure) - membership (role in the element of org-structure). I found the permissions settings for the page and a specific portlet on the page (show or not).
Although the model of administrative objects in Liferay and JBoss Portal does not match - in general, the basic things in terms of administration in GateIn can be done. At the same time, not to mention convenience-inconvenience - but what impression the UI makes ... I have been watching the development of Liferay for several years - and I see how the admin panel is “polished” in recent years - Usability is actually being worked out, people really try to make even a new user faster I was able to navigate, find the right buttons, do the necessary actions in fewer clicks. As a result, the portal gives the impression of a product.
Immediately the feeling of “crafts” did not leave me - especially against the background of Liferay or the admin console of the same JBoss AS.
Well, they brought users, they were stuffed them according to the organizational structure, websites with pages were made, rights were distributed. So what is next? How are we going to fill the pages? And here the key difference comes out. If a heap of portlets (widgets) is immediately put into Liferay plus an even larger heap is available (for example) through the same Liferay Marketplace, then there is emptiness. A couple of widgets like "calculator", a very basic widget for hosting web content, an Iframe portlet - that's all.
As a result - the only option in which I see that you can use GateIn (or Jboss Portal - then I did not fully understand how to properly call it) - this is a situation where you need to make a completely custom portal with your portlets, and for Some reasons are very close to the JBoss product stack. Well, compared to the Liferay portal, you don’t have to clean up a bunch of excess that gives Liferay to users by default - here you will immediately get some minimum. Probably everything.
Can an external website be made more or less sane? I doubt it. Is it possible to raise the intra-corporate portal - it is also unlikely - there are no basic portlets for organizing collaboration. Is it possible to raise some B2B platform with a set of its own, developed portlets? Yes, this can be done.
But community activity (or rather its absence) puts an end to the real use of this product - at least I would not dare to make a project on which in the forums one message in six months. Is there anyone in the Habré who risked? Maybe I'm wrong and everything is not so bad?
How I was correctly suggested here - from February 28, 2015, Liferay and JBoss entered into a partnership agreement: http://www.liferay.com/redhat-jboss - as a result - JBoss stopped selling subscriptions to its portal and now recommends its users to use Liferay.
Yes, we have long been engaged in the implementation of portals on Liferay, but I am not a blind fanatic, and sometimes I try to get out of my world and look around. But what if? Suddenly there is an alternative? Let's look at one of them today — the GateIn portal — a joint production of JBoss and eXo.
Why did I decide to start with GateIn? JBoss (now RedHat) is a company with a long tradition in the world of Open Source and respected in the world of Java EE. She has a whole range of different products - starting, of course, from their famous server (now called WildFly) and ending with niche solutions. If you expect a serious competitor for Liferay, then first of all from their side.
')
Should a dog eat its food?
So - suppose I do not understand anything in the portals at all - but the boss (or client) gave me the task to find a solution. Where do I start? No - I will not immediately download, install, run - I will start with an external review. I study the product site, read the news and announcements, look in the forums - I will try to understand how the product lives and develops. This will seem a bit strange - but the first thing I’ll pay attention to is whether the manufacturer itself uses its product?
Liferay C is clean - liferay.com’s website is honestly spinning on Liferay itself - ok, the product is so good that its manufacturer has entrusted it with its website, its forums and so on.
And what about GateIn? The website gatein.jboss.org revolves around Magnolia (Magnolia CMS). Well, in the end, the implementation of external sites is not quite the task of the portal, we can forgive him for this. And what about the developer community - developer.jboss.org/en/gatein - oops - Jive. Why not GateIn itself? We write GateIn the first minus - the developer himself (JBoss) chose another solution for himself - this already says a lot.
People, ay?
What about the community? Choosing an open source product is very important to know that you will not stay with him one-on-one, and there are 100,500 other poor people with whom you will not feel so lonely.
Forums on the site developer.jboss.org made a sad impression - the last message in the developer forum - 6 months ago, in the user forum - 3 months ago. The last blog is a year and a half ago. The latest version on the Downloads page is from the 2013th year (if we talk about the Jboss Portal itself) and 2014th year if we talk about the GateIn. Is the product alive at all?
And download?
In fact, if it were not for my academic interest, I would end up studying the product. But I am stubborn - but because I still tried to download it.
But let's start with the fact that it is not clear - what to swing? There is GateIn, there is Jboss Portal. What is the difference? What exactly do I need?
If I understand correctly, GateIn is such a community driven project, and then JBoss builds its portal on its basis. Therefore, I decided to immediately start JBoss Portal 6.1.0 build from GateIn 3.6 (release of 2013th year) - the link required me to login or register ... No, I don’t feel sorry, but the chances are that I’ll make it to the final less and less. After login, I got into the depths of the site www.jboss.org/products/portal/get-started where I found out that it turned out to be JBoss Portal 6.2.0 - from the 15th year. It is strange that the site GateIn did not say anything about it. So - I stopped at JBoss Portal 6.2.0
Sim Sim open
I downloaded, unpacked, looked. Inside JBoss AS 7.5.0, it started up normally. After the start, according to the documentation, I went to the Management Console: http: // localhost: 9990 / - but I was politely told that there were no users yet - and they explained where to go. I went, created - and here I am inside.
It's all regular for Jboss, but practically not interesting from the point of view of the portal. The portal itself is available at http: // localhost: 8080 / portal (at the first launch I asked to change the admin password - conveniently).
Administration subtleties
I will not go into the details of content management, navigation and other convenient / not convenient. Convenience is a matter of habit — and here I cannot judge objectively — after all, I’m used to Liferay and Jboss will be unusual for me anyway. But consider a number of basic functions (in my understanding). Let's start with the administration.
Multitenancy
In Liferay there is such a thing as Portal Instance. This is essentially an opportunity to launch several portals within the same physical application (each on its own domain) - as a result - these portals have a common code (and essentially run within the same Java process) - but different data (users, websites and all other). I did not find this in JBoss Portal - theoretically, this can be implemented through the domains of Jboss AS itself - but this is somewhat different.
Organizational structure
There is an opportunity to define the organizational structure (and with several roots - that is, to get not one, but several organizations). The user can be assigned to several elements of the organizational structure with different roles (membership) - everything is also ok here. And even having rummaged, I found how to create your website for any element of the org-structure. It may not be convenient (stop, I promised not to talk about it) - but you can do it.
Multisite
It is possible to create several sites (Spaces) within one portal - they can be tied as to some element of an org structure - so it is possible to be on their own.
Security model
Role-playing, or rather, for a couple - a group (element of org-structure) - membership (role in the element of org-structure). I found the permissions settings for the page and a specific portlet on the page (show or not).
Although the model of administrative objects in Liferay and JBoss Portal does not match - in general, the basic things in terms of administration in GateIn can be done. At the same time, not to mention convenience-inconvenience - but what impression the UI makes ... I have been watching the development of Liferay for several years - and I see how the admin panel is “polished” in recent years - Usability is actually being worked out, people really try to make even a new user faster I was able to navigate, find the right buttons, do the necessary actions in fewer clicks. As a result, the portal gives the impression of a product.
Immediately the feeling of “crafts” did not leave me - especially against the background of Liferay or the admin console of the same JBoss AS.
Filling
Well, they brought users, they were stuffed them according to the organizational structure, websites with pages were made, rights were distributed. So what is next? How are we going to fill the pages? And here the key difference comes out. If a heap of portlets (widgets) is immediately put into Liferay plus an even larger heap is available (for example) through the same Liferay Marketplace, then there is emptiness. A couple of widgets like "calculator", a very basic widget for hosting web content, an Iframe portlet - that's all.
To be or not to be
As a result - the only option in which I see that you can use GateIn (or Jboss Portal - then I did not fully understand how to properly call it) - this is a situation where you need to make a completely custom portal with your portlets, and for Some reasons are very close to the JBoss product stack. Well, compared to the Liferay portal, you don’t have to clean up a bunch of excess that gives Liferay to users by default - here you will immediately get some minimum. Probably everything.
Can an external website be made more or less sane? I doubt it. Is it possible to raise the intra-corporate portal - it is also unlikely - there are no basic portlets for organizing collaboration. Is it possible to raise some B2B platform with a set of its own, developed portlets? Yes, this can be done.
But community activity (or rather its absence) puts an end to the real use of this product - at least I would not dare to make a project on which in the forums one message in six months. Is there anyone in the Habré who risked? Maybe I'm wrong and everything is not so bad?
UPDATE: Liferay and JBoss - friendship forever
How I was correctly suggested here - from February 28, 2015, Liferay and JBoss entered into a partnership agreement: http://www.liferay.com/redhat-jboss - as a result - JBoss stopped selling subscriptions to its portal and now recommends its users to use Liferay.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/266159/
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