JBoss Drools 5.0
Red Hat's JBoss unit has released version 5.0 of its open source Java rules engine, Drools. With the new release, the developers have completely reworked the platform with the introduction of BLiP, the Business Logic integration Platform which provides a single platform, organising and developing the rules, work flows and events. The Drools developers have also split up the platform into four sub-projects.
Drools Guvnor provides the central repository for rules with GUI editors and tools for managing a large repository while Drools Expert is the rules engine which can consume those rules. Drools Fusion manages CEP, (Complex Event Processing, looking after the detection, analysis and grouping of related events. Finally, Drools Flow supports the business or work flow processes, allowing the creation of the steps needed to accomplish a complex long running task.
The release notes point out that "The BRMs is dead" reflecting the change in orientation of Drools from just a business rules management system which had extensions, to a unified platform for rules, work flow and events.
(djwm)