A compilation of today's news of interest:

With GlassFish v3, we're moving from a home-grown packaging and update mechanism used today in GlassFish v2 to IPS. Jim has a detailed write-up about how to build an update center module for GlassFish v3.

Jim covers setting up the tools if you're not using OpenSolaris, module configuration (there is no file format and packaging per say), setting up a repository, and browsing existing repositories (simply point your browser to the magic URL).

The objective for the GlassFish Update Center remains the same - easily expose your software add-ons and updates to both internal of external users (4+ Million GlassFish downloads a year).

Hudson is now available as an IPS package, joining the existing Debian, OpenSUSE, and FreeBSD packages. The IPS package is available here; Kohsuke provides Complete Instructions on how to install it; pretty straight forward, althought it currently requires a couple of extra steps. One of the benefits of Kohsuke doing this is that it helps us become more familiar with IPS. Also check this comparison between IPS and apt-get commands, and these doc pages: pfexec, svcadm and svccfg. Other related entries are tagged under Hudson and IPS.

The new OpenSolaris-branded distribution was launched at CommunityOne (PR, GetIt); together with efforts like OpenSolaris.COM and TheObservatory it is intended to help the users of OpenSolaris complementing the developer-focused OpenSolaris.ORG.

I think will see significant increased adoption of OpenSolaris in the next few months. Other trends that will help are the increased adoption of VirtualBox (home page, vb at TA, LinuxJournal Award), the new IPS package system, and more familiarization with features like ZFS, DTrace and IPS.

Several people in GlassFish have started doing more things with OpenSolaris and we will track them through TA. Here are some useful initial pointers: • Installing OpenSolaris on VB on MacOSX. • Official OS Docs • Amitsaha's IPS Overview and official Getting Started with IPS document. • Alexis' GF v2 on OpenSolaris and official Installing GFv2 from IPS document. • Arun's JRuby on Rails an MySQL on VB

Chris has a very detailed analysis of how to use IPS to package OpenDS. A bit on the long side, but I'd recommend it if you are interested in IPS. IPS is the format we are going to use with the next version of the GlassFish Update Center. IPS is also the format used in OpenSolaris but we are going to use it in an OS-independent manner. And, before you ask, no, we are not going to limit ourselves to delivering only IPS packages.

Check Chris's entry at OpenDS in IPS format. Feedback here or at Chris's blog.

Quick roundup on Hudson news:

• Kohsuke is looking for an IPS maintainer. • Hudson and... Grails, JRuby and Cobertura. • Presentation at FOSDEM - Blog and interview • Kind words - Hudson Rocks, Hudson Love, More Love (and some gripes).

We have reported on the GlassFish UpdateCenter but the team has also been working on the next version, using IPS from OpenSolaris to gain technical advantages and also significantly align efforts. There is now a prototype of UC v2 that is capable of installing GF v2, Message Queue (OpenMQ), JavaDB (Apache Derby) and Ant packaged using IPS. For details check the Wiki page; don't miss the ScreenCast.

I'll keep you posted on developments and on the tentative schedule when we have one.