Details
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Improvement
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Status: Closed
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Major
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Resolution: Fixed
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None
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None
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None
Description
Sizable population of current Tomcat, Jetty,
OpenEJB, and ActiveMQ users will soon take a look at
Geronimo.
Unfortunately, they are very likely to walk away out of
pure frustration 
The current usage model for these products are very similar
to that of the Apache web server. A user can:
1. change the config file, for example httpd.conf
2. restart the server, for example ... via apachectl
3. immediately try the new server in action
This model allows for rapid revision/iteration
during experimentation, debugging, and on-the-fly
config rewrites.
Unfortunately, attempting to do the same with
their favourite server INSIDE Geronimo will
(today) require:
1. download of the entire Geronimo source base
2. research and understand Maven
3. research and understand SVN and CVS
4. understand the Geronimo build process
5. crossed digits during assorted build failures -
out-of-sync repository, server lock-ups, etc
6. days on end searching mailing list archives (if
the search feature isn't still broken)
7. endless hours lurking on the IRC
8. days and days of wondering why he/she is doing it
All of this is required to make a simple change
that formerly equates to a text file edit
and server restart.
Somewhere between step 1 and 8 above, most sane
user would have quit, disappointed.
Not every server user aspires to become a
server-system developer
Even though this problems will likely go away once
GUI admin/deployment/configuration tools
and GUI assemblies-construction-kits become available,
there is an obvious need to address the usability
issue in the interim.