Ruddi

• Technical questions
• Plans for future enhancements
• Licensing questions

Technical questions

T1. What API should I use: Ruddi™ or JAXR?
Ruddi™ is an UDDI-specific Java API; JAXR is a generic API to connect to "any" business registry. As a result, JAXR, contrarily to Ruddi™, doesn't make a straight use of UDDI notions, such as "BusinessEntity". Rather, JAXR makes use of generic, business registry-independant notions, such as "Organization", that JAXR translates to UDDI notions at runtime. If you plan on working with UDDI only, Ruddi™ is a straightforward approach as far as the JAXR additional abstraction layer doesn't bring anything useful to you; if you need business registry abstraction, however, go the JAXR route.

T2. Why would I choose Ruddi™ over another UDDI package?
Ruddi™ transparently supports several UDDI versions. This means that Ruddi™ can be used to connect to UDDI registries potentially supporting different UDDI protocol levels. With Ruddi™, upgrading a client application to support an UDDI registry of another UDDI protocol level only requires to instruct the Ruddi™ runtime to use that UDDI protocol level. With classical packages, you would be required to perform heavy code changes. This is a definitive advantage over the other packages around. We also believe that the amount and quality of available documentation is another definitive asset.

T3. Do you support the Axis 1.0 SOAP engine?
Yes. Check the Axis10Example.

Plans for future enhancements

E1. When will UDDI V3 be fully implemented?
UDDI V3 messaging is actually implemented since just a few weeks after the availability of the UDDI Version 3.0 Published Specification, 19 July 2002. However, UDDI V3 beta registries are only available since August 2003 and hence testing of our V3 implementation has only started since then.

E2. What are your plans with regard to JAXR?
We had some contacts with SUN Microsystems to license the TCK of JAXR (Test Compatibility Kit). We have considered that it would not be commercially viable to us to acquire it. So, we have basically dropped our plans to add a JAXR layer to Ruddi™. We are however opened to sponsorship, credible business alliances, or commercial discussions to implement JAXR as a software development assignment.

Licensing questions

L1. Is Ruddi™ open source?
Yes, Ruddi™ is an open source software released under the terms of the Reciprocal Public License (RPL), a license approved by the Open Software Initiative.

L2. Is Ruddi™ free software?
Yes, Ruddi™ is free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation. However, Ruddi™ is not free of charge unless you are contributing back your own Ruddi™-based developments under the terms of the RPL license. Refer to the Pricing section of the Web site for more information.

L3. Are Ruddi™ source code and API public domain?
No. If something is "in the public domain" then anyone can copy it or use it in any way they wish. Ruddi™ is a licensed software and INSPIRE IT, the company that has created it, is its copyright owner.

L4. What are the differences between the RPL and GPL or LPGL?
The main difference is the RPL's lack of GPL's "privacy clause". The RPL does not allow modifications to remain private upon deployment, either internal or external. The RPL does allow private use and pure research to be done without imposing re-release restrictions on the developer however.

L5. Why is Ruddi™ licensed under the terms of the RPL and not GPL or LPGL?
The GPL and LPGL licenses are very popular. However, the many discussions around them on the Internet show that their interpretation are not so trivial. In our opinion, the RPL license and the "pay or contribute" approach it allows implementing makes it much clearer on the rights and obligations of the end user. In other words, we prefer to use a less popular yet OSI-approved open source license rather than a popular but widely misinterpreted license.

L6. Is the RPL "viral"?
The RPL is extremely viral. Where the GPL uses terminology focusing largely on linking of executables, the RPL looks at the application level. The RPL requires you to release any code you write for any application that uses RPL code.

L7. Who is the copyright owner of contributions submitted to Ruddi™?
Intellectual property rights are such that the author of original and creative work is automatically the copyright owner of his/her work. INSPIRE IT is the copyright owner of the codebase of Ruddi™; provided your contributions are original and creative as commonly understood in the software industry, you are and remain the copyright owner of you contributions to Ruddi™.