Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Which version of Pluto 3.0 should I use?
  2. Which version of Pluto 2.0 should I use?
  3. I've seen references to Pluto 1.0.x and 1.1x. What are versions 1.x used for?
  4. Is Pluto an Enterprise Portal?
  5. What's the easiest way to include a portlet in my webapp (applies to Pluto 1.x only)
  6. How can I change the default encoding of the Pluto Portal
  7. Do I need to have xml parsers in an endorsed classloader? (e.g.in Tomcat's 5.5 common/endorsed directory)
Which version of Pluto 3.0 should I use?

Version 3.1.2 is the latest stable release available from the download site. If you want to build the current development version, please see the Pluto 3.0 Getting Started section for information on cloning the Pluto repository, building the portal, and learning from the version 3.0 sample portlets.

All Pluto 2.x and 1.x versions are no longer active and only maintained for bug fixes.

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Which version of Pluto 2.0 should I use?

The latest release from the 2.0 series (2.0.3) is the current stable release. We recommend that you use this if you are looking for a stable release. 2.0 implements JSR 286 Java Portlet Specification 2.0 and requires Java 5 as minimum.

All Pluto 1.x versions are no longer active and only maintained for bug fixes.

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I've seen references to Pluto 1.0.x and 1.1x. What are versions 1.x used for?

Pluto 1.0.x is based off of the code base which was originally donated to the ASF by IBM. The first release candidate in this series was published on October 8, 2004. Pluto 1.0.x is only maintained for bug fixes.

Pluto 1.0.1 is the portlet container embedded in all Jetspeed release up until version 2.2.0. From version 2.2.0 onward, Jetspeed embeds Pluto 2.0.x.

The 1.1.x series is a refactoring/rewrite of Pluto 1.0.x. It's entire purpose is to simplify the container and make it easier for both Portlet Developers and Portal Developers looking to embed Pluto into their portal to use Pluto.

Now that Pluto 2.0.0 has been released, our team highly recommends that you migrate to it. Pluto 1.0.x development has been stagnant for some time and there are no plans to support it in the future.

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Is Pluto an Enterprise Portal?
No, the Pluto project aims to provide a Java Specification compliant Portlet Container. In order to support the container, the Pluto project provides a simple portal, however, this does not provides optional services such as single sign on. If you are looking for an Open Source enterprise Portal implementation, there are several available. Apache Jetspeed is an enterprise portal hosted by the Apache Software Foundation. Sakai and uPortal are both educational portals which utilize Pluto as their container. There are many other open source portals.

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What's the easiest way to include a portlet in my webapp (applies to Pluto 1.x only)

Simple, use the Pluto Portal Drivers "PortalDriverFilter". This allows you to embed a portlet directly into a jsp page. To use it, do the following:

  • Add the Portal Driver listener Configuration to your web.xml
  • Add the PortalDriverFilter configuration to your web.xml
  • Include the portlet (and perhaps some controls?) in your jsp.

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How can I change the default encoding of the Pluto Portal

This is currently not supported with Pluto 3.0. The character encoding for render requests is set to UTF-8.

As of Pluto 1.1.5 you can change the default encoding of the Pluto Portal by editing the Pluto Portlet Servlet's web.xml. Add an init-param with the name of "charset" and set the value to the desired character set.

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Do I need to have xml parsers in an endorsed classloader? (e.g.in Tomcat's 5.5 common/endorsed directory)

If you have installed Pluto 1.1.5 or greater, and are running on Java 5 or greater, then you do not need to endorse any XML libraries. Pluto will use JAXP.

The Pluto 1.1.x codebase targets Java 1.4, and so the bundled distribution of Pluto includes Tomcat with XML libraries in common/endorsed. Simply remove the XML libraries from common/endorsed if you meet the above requirements.

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