Welcome to the Mac OS X Java Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for developers. This page is intended to provide answers to frequently asked questions about the direction and current features of Java on Mac OS X, as well as common development questions and problems. Due to the high volume of email we receive, we cannot respond to every question or suggestion, but we are interested in what you have to say. If after reading the Java Developer FAQ, you still have a question, please contact us.

Please note that the “Common Development Questions” and “Known Issues” sections pertain to J2SE 1.4 or later unless otherwise noted. For 1.3.1 development issues, please see our Java Documentation section for Technical Notes and Q&As regarding J2SE 1.3.1 on Mac OS X.

Java2 Enterprise Edition

1. What is Apple's J2EE strategy?
2. Which 3rd party J2EE products are available for Mac OS X?

1. What is Apple's J2EE strategy?

Mac OS X Tiger Server includes Apache's Tomcat, the J2EE reference implementation of Servlets and JSP, as well as the popular JBoss application server. Standard distributions of Tomcat and JBoss can of course be installed onto a Mac OS X desktop system as on any other J2SE platform.

Apple also ships WebObjects, which supports many of the J2EE technologies including JSP, Servlets and EJB.

Since we ship a fully compliant J2SE implementation, many other enterprise products have been made available from third parties as well (see below).
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2. Which 3rd party J2EE products are available for Mac OS X?

Apple provides a standard Java platform that allows any J2EE vendor to bring their application servers over to Mac OS X. A few solutions include:

• Project GlassFish
• Macromedia JRun
• JBoss
• Apache (Jakarta) Tomcat
• Jetty

Borland's JBuilder also provides tools to develop end-to-end J2EE applications.

Please see our Internet Developer article, Enterprise Java on Mac OS X, for more, including instructions on integrating JBoss, Jetty, and Tomcat into Mac OS X.
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