With its ease of running code in many environments, the Java platform attracts a large share of open-source development interest.

Sonatype, the chief commercial supporter of the open-source Maven project, is working with Oracle to bring Java.net project artifacts to the Maven Central Repository.

Gradle is a Java build tool without the out-of-the-box functionality of a tool like Maven but has the capability with smart build functionality to handle multiple projects at once.

Such projects as NetBeans, Oracle JDeveloper, Eclipse, Apache Maven, Ant, Gradle and Nexus use the repository to access Java components. The JBoss Community announcement comes on the heels of news ...

How is Java made? Let’s take a look at the process for introducing new features to the platform, and at some of the big JDK enhancement projects on the horizon.