Introducing Lucee on Jetty

Lucee on Jetty bundles the Jetty server with the Lucee CFML engine, cleanly configured using the home/base functionality in Jetty 9, and extensively documented.

The main aim is to provide a Lucee package that is a simple unzip-and-run to get started, whilst providing a fully functional and capable web server, and also making it clear how everything works to allow it to be adapted as needed.

This first release is v0.5 because I don't consider it sufficiently complete yet - it all works fine, but doesn't yet contain everything I feel it should - for example, HTTPS has not been configured and documented, and whilst Jetty itself does support HTTPS and there's nothing stopping anyone consulting the Jetty docs and setting it up, this project is about reducing that work.

So for development use it's fine, if you don't need HTTPS or are willing to configure it yourself, go ahead - otherwise I hope to get what I consider a complete v1.0 ready as soon as time permits, but didn't want to delay releasing what I've done so far.

Downloads are available from the Lucee on Jetty project page; there's a documentation wiki at GitHub, and the template for building bundles in the GitHub repo .

As ever, I welcome any feedback or questions you might have - please use the issue tracker.

Why Jetty instead of Tomcat?

Simply, I prefer Jetty. I've used both and consider Jetty's webapp configuration and general architecture to be better than that of Tomcat.

If you like Tomcat, the Lucee website already offers both express and installer editions.

How does this one differ from other Jetty bundles?

This is not just "take Jetty and throw Lucee on top" - the aim is to go with the grain of the Jetty architecture, using the home/base structure to allow ease of upgrading, to provide sensible configuration of Lucee (e.g. keeping WEB-INF out of webroot), to be fully featured and well documented.

I want people to understand what they are using, and the bundle contains several readme files to explain what's going on and relevant links to the Jetty docs. The project's wiki expands on these with more information, how-to guides, and so on.

In time, I plan to provide an extended release which will contain a curated collection of libraries, frameworks, extensions, etc - all pre-configured and ready to go, providing a starting point for building great web applications.