The release deliverables have the same form as previous releases, namely:
- Source code release for all Orion project deliverables, available as versions tagged "R2_0" in the Orion project Git repositories.
- Packaged Orion server download for Windows, Mac, and Linux
- Hosted Orion server on http://orionhub.org
Compatibility of Release 2.0 with 1.0
Orion 2.0 guarantees no formal compatibility with Orion 1.0. While most plugins designed for Orion 1.0 may continue to function when installed in Orion 2.0, there may be changes to APIs and library functions used by the plugin that have changed in incompatible ways that prevent it from installing or operating properly.
The incompatibilities will be documented in the Orion help system and on the Wiki
Orion supports internationalization through plugins which provide message catalogs of translations. There is an NLS Plugin to aid developers in creating an initial message catalog. In addition, the folders, files and contents of the Orion Server have been verified to work with DBCS characters and the editor itself also supports BIDI. Orion as provided via Eclipse downloads will only provide English strings in the 2.0 release.
In order to remain current, each Orion project release targets reasonably current operating environments. We focus our testing on a handful of popular combinations of operating systems, Web browsers, and Java platforms; these are our reference platforms. Orion undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered when running Orion on a non-reference platform that cannot be recreated on any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with running Orion on a reference platform.
Orion has two broad classes of target environments:
- Client target environments Indicates environments supported for end users of Orion-based web applications.
- Server target environments Indicates requirements for the platform where the Orion server is installed.
Most of the Orion client code is built on HTML5, CSS3, and ECMAScript 5 (JavaScript). As such, the chief dependence is on a web browser that supplies rendering and interpretation of these languages. In general, Orion requires the most recent major release of the major browsers it supports. Due to the fast pace of development in the browser world, supporting older browser versions is not a priority for Orion at this early stage of its development.
Orion 2.0 is tested and validated on the following reference client target environments:
table.platforms { border-width: 1px; border-spacing: 0px; border-style: solid; border-collapse: separate; } table.platforms th { border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: black; background-color: #B9A9FF; } table.platforms td { border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px; padding: 3px 3px 3px 3px; border-style: inset inset inset inset; border-color: gray gray gray gray; } table.platforms tr.c0 td { background-color: #FDFDFD; } table.platforms tr.c1 td { background-color: #F4EEFF; } Operating SystemVersionBrowsersWindows7ChromeFirefoxInternet Explorer 10.0Red Hat Enterprise Linux6ChromeFirefoxApple Mac OS X10.8.2Safari 6.0.2
Most of the Orion server code is "pure" Java code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is therefore on the Java Platform itself. Portions are targeted to specific classes of operating environments, requiring their source code to only reference facilities available in particular class libraries (e.g. Java SE 5, Java SE 6, etc). In general, the 2.0 release of the Orion server is developed and tested on Java SE 6.
There is work underway to additionally support a purely Node.js based Orion environment. The reference platform for this work has not yet been established but will be made by the end of the 2.0 release
The Orion 2.0 Java server is tested and validated on the following reference server target environments:
Operating SystemVersionHardwareJREWindows7x86 32-bitOracle Java 6 Update 29
IBM Java 6 SR9 FP2 x86 64-bitRed Hat Enterprise Linux6x86 32-bitOracle Java 6 Update 29 (needs to be updated)
IBM Java 6 SR9 FP2 x86 64-bitApple Mac OS X10.8.2Universal 64-bitjava version "1.6.0_37"
As stated above, we expect that Orion works fine on other current Java VM and OS versions but we cannot flag these as reference platforms without significant community support for testing them.
Consumability
Orion needs to have no roadblocks for projects to consume Orion components. As such, there needs to be effort to reduce some of our 3rd party dependencies. In addition, the Orion core needs to be compartmentalized to allow projects or products to consume only the pieces they need to build a web site or platform. Other changes in Consumability are there for improved uptake of Orion features including the Editor.
Deployment
In order to get adoption by web developers and site designers, there needs to be a focus on developer workflows. This will start with introducing the notion of Projects in Orion, and then how to transform these projects into a deployable artifact to a web site, or a hosting service for example.
Node Development