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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Build Automation
  4. Java Build Tools
  5. Apache Maven vs rkt

Apache Maven vs rkt

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Apache Maven
Apache Maven
Stacks3.4K
Followers1.7K
Votes414
GitHub Stars4.8K
Forks2.8K
rkt
rkt
Stacks29
Followers112
Votes10

Apache Maven vs rkt: What are the differences?

Developers describe Apache Maven as "Apache build manager for Java projects". Maven allows a project to build using its project object model (POM) and a set of plugins that are shared by all projects using Maven, providing a uniform build system. Once you familiarize yourself with how one Maven project builds you automatically know how all Maven projects build saving you immense amounts of time when trying to navigate many projects. On the other hand, rkt is detailed as "App Container runtime". Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.

Apache Maven can be classified as a tool in the "Java Build Tools" category, while rkt is grouped under "Virtual Machine Platforms & Containers".

Some of the features offered by Apache Maven are:

  • Simple project setup that follows best practices - get a new project or module started in seconds
  • Consistent usage across all projects means no ramp up time for new developers coming onto a project
  • Superior dependency management including automatic updating, dependency closures (also known as transitive dependencies)

On the other hand, rkt provides the following key features:

  • Composable. All tools for downloading, installing, and running containers should be well integrated, but independent and composable.
  • Security. Isolation should be pluggable, and the crypto primitives for strong trust, image auditing and application identity should exist from day one.
  • Image distribution. Discovery of container images should be simple and facilitate a federated namespace, and distributed retrieval. This opens the possibility of alternative protocols, such as BitTorrent, and deployments to private environments without the requirement of a registry.

"Dependency management" is the top reason why over 125 developers like Apache Maven, while over 3 developers mention "Security" as the leading cause for choosing rkt.

Apache Maven and rkt are both open source tools. It seems that rkt with 8.71K GitHub stars and 832 forks on GitHub has more adoption than Apache Maven with 1.74K GitHub stars and 1.28K GitHub forks.

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Detailed Comparison

Apache Maven
Apache Maven
rkt
rkt

Maven allows a project to build using its project object model (POM) and a set of plugins that are shared by all projects using Maven, providing a uniform build system. Once you familiarize yourself with how one Maven project builds you automatically know how all Maven projects build saving you immense amounts of time when trying to navigate many projects.

Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.

Simple project setup that follows best practices - get a new project or module started in seconds;Consistent usage across all projects means no ramp up time for new developers coming onto a project;Superior dependency management including automatic updating, dependency closures (also known as transitive dependencies);Able to easily work with multiple projects at the same time;A large and growing repository of libraries and metadata to use out of the box, and arrangements in place with the largest Open Source projects for real-time availability of their latest releases;Extensible, with the ability to easily write plugins in Java or scripting languages;Instant access to new features with little or no extra configuration;Ant tasks for dependency management and deployment outside of Maven
Composable. All tools for downloading, installing, and running containers should be well integrated, but independent and composable.;Security. Isolation should be pluggable, and the crypto primitives for strong trust, image auditing and application identity should exist from day one.;Image distribution. Discovery of container images should be simple and facilitate a federated namespace, and distributed retrieval. This opens the possibility of alternative protocols, such as BitTorrent, and deployments to private environments without the requirement of a registry.;Open. The format and runtime should be well-specified and developed by a community. We want independent implementations of tools to be able to run the same container consistently.
Statistics
GitHub Stars
4.8K
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
2.8K
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
3.4K
Stacks
29
Followers
1.7K
Followers
112
Votes
414
Votes
10
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 138
    Dependency management
  • 70
    Necessary evil
  • 60
    I’d rather code my app, not my build
  • 48
    Publishing packaged artifacts
  • 43
    Convention over configuration
Cons
  • 6
    Complex
  • 1
    Inconsistent buillds
  • 0
    Not many plugin-alternatives
Pros
  • 5
    Security
  • 3
    Robust container portability
  • 2
    Composable containers

What are some alternatives to Apache Maven, rkt?

Docker

Docker

The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere

Gradle

Gradle

Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. If you are building, testing, publishing, and deploying software on any platform, Gradle offers a flexible model that can support the entire development lifecycle from compiling and packaging code to publishing web sites.

Bazel

Bazel

Bazel is a build tool that builds code quickly and reliably. It is used to build the majority of Google's software, and thus it has been designed to handle build problems present in Google's development environment.

LXD

LXD

LXD isn't a rewrite of LXC, in fact it's building on top of LXC to provide a new, better user experience. Under the hood, LXD uses LXC through liblxc and its Go binding to create and manage the containers. It's basically an alternative to LXC's tools and distribution template system with the added features that come from being controllable over the network.

Pants

Pants

Pants is a build system for Java, Scala and Python. It works particularly well for a source code repository that contains many distinct projects.

LXC

LXC

LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers.

JitPack

JitPack

JitPack is an easy to use package repository for Gradle/Sbt and Maven projects. We build GitHub projects on demand and provides ready-to-use packages.

SBT

SBT

It is similar to Java's Maven and Ant. Its main features are: Native support for compiling Scala code and integrating with many Scala test frameworks.

Buck

Buck

Buck encourages the creation of small, reusable modules consisting of code and resources, and supports a variety of languages on many platforms.

Apache Ant

Apache Ant

Ant is a Java-based build tool. In theory, it is kind of like Make, without Make's wrinkles and with the full portability of pure Java code.

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