src/site/apt/index.apt

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Apache Commons Exec
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12 November 2008
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Apache Commons Exec

* Rationale

  Executing external processes from Java is a well-known problem area. It is inheriently platform dependent and requires
  the developer to know and test for platform specific behaviors, for example using cmd.exe on Windows or limited buffer
  sizes causing deadlocks. The JRE support for this is very limited, albeit better with the Java SE 1.5
  ProcessBuilder class.

  Reliably executing external processes can also require knowledge of the environment variables before or after the
  command is executed. In J2SE 1.1-1.4 there is not support for this, since the method, <<<System.getenv()>>>, for
  retrieving environment variables is deprecated.

  There are currently several different libraries that for their own purposes have implemented frameworks around
  <<<Runtime.exec()>>> to handle the various issues outlined above. The proposed project should aim at coordinating and
  learning from these initiatives to create and maintain a simple, reusable and well-tested package. Since some of the
  more problematic platforms are not readily available, it is our hope that the broad Apache community can be a
  great help.

* Scope of the package

  The package shall create and maintain a process execution package written in the Java language to be distributed
  under the ASF license. The Java code might also be complemented with scripts (e.g. Perl scripts) to fully enable
  execution on some operating systems. The package should aim for supporting a wide range of operating systems while
  still having a consistent API for all platforms.

* Releases 
   
  Version v1.3 (current), is JDK 1.5 compatible - 
  {{{https://commons.apache.org/exec/download_exec.cgi}Download now!}}. 

  Version v1.2, is JDK 1.3 compatible. 

  Version v1.1, is JDK 1.3 compatible. 

  For previous releases, see the {{{http://archive.apache.org/dist/commons/exec/}Apache Archive}}.